Last Cry of the Humans
by LibraMoon
Summary: Over 38 million. That is how many women they had demanded from Earth, but did not say why. She couldn't have been chosen. It had to be a mistake. There was something predatory about the way they watched them. Predator/Human. Eventual romance, action, drama, and a different sort of hunt.
1. Chapter 1

**So, yeah, um hey… Got a request for Predator and human… Not um…not too sure on this; but here we go.**

**I own nothing. Rated M. May be a sensitive topic for some. Reader beware.**

OoOoOo

She can't remember what she was doing the day that every single radio, and television station announced that aliens really did exist. She'd thought it another Orson Wellian type of hoax, until she clicked over to find the Emergency Broadcast Network blared the same thing that the President of the United States had been saying on station 104.4.

Yes, aliens were really. Yes, they were coming to Earth. And, finally, No; humanity would not fight them or fight back. It had been addressed and the government had known for quite some time about a species that had found itself in a predicament. Now, 200,00 females from every nation had been selected by these aliens to be taken off world. No specifics were given, no other warning except not to fight back.

The president's brow was glistening in perspiration, he nervously licked his lips. A politician normally in an excellent speaker, however, this speech was far from the normal slew of political rhetoric. She could not process what was being said. She seemed to be one among many. She looked up and slowed reaction from the stunning news caused her to crash her car into a silver Honda.

She didn't even care. Neither, it seemed, did the other driver. The human race as a whole to a collective moment to process what every human being, in every nation, was being told. Kathy unclipped her seatbelt and exited the car. Her thoughts were blazing, and her body felt numb. Was she having a seizure? Was this real? Time was going by at an agonizingly slow pace as she turned to her left to see multiple people holding their cell phones and streaming the speech live. It was being broadcast everywhere, the sound nearly too quiet and yet deafening all at once.

Impossible.

Still the lingering notes of the president's voice reached her ears. "America, we are known for our bravery, and our brashness. We have the tendency to rush head long into danger. I must warn you now that under _no circumstance_ are you to fight or threaten the alien forces."

Forces, he said, as if they were going to war.

"In essence, in views of technology, they are angles, and we… are cavemen. The truth is-" She normally would have made a scathing retort about truth coming out of the mouth of any politician, but she could hear in his voice true fear.

Whatever was happening was huge. Greater, if possible, than World War III.

"If we as a people, any singular person acts as a representative for us all, challenge or … resist-" His voice cracked slightly and the transfixed people of the United States of America waited without moving for him to clear his throat, "if anyone does, we will all be _exterminated._ We have been asked to give them 200,000 females. Brave women of America, we humbly ask you to accept this that all might live. _You_ are our only hope. We, the government, have been given the list of names. Those women who have been selected shall be asked to report to the nearest military facility with all due haste. I have also taken steps to have these selfless women be collected before midnight tomorrow. I must ask that for every man, woman, and child that remains for you all to come forward and not hide. There is… very little time and every female must be accounted for._"_

Silence. Beautiful and blissful silence stretch for its dark maw to swallow the human race whole. Then, pandemonium. The world erupted into noise strong, that Kathy felt sure the wretched aliens must have heard them from space. Cursing, rioting, angry glances, fighting, and killing began happening as the society as a whole dipped instantly in to unadulterated anarchy.

Kathy scrambled as she was jarred from behind. Then out of almost nowhere, fires exploded and she bolted. If she could make it home…

But her thought was the same as thousands of others in her ten mile radius. Hundreds of people came streaming over the road, running with her or past her and a few into her. She stumbled falling, and rolled covering her neck and head, underneath a car. She lay there terrified and panting for breath. Cars were being tipped and looting was going on already. She could hear screams in all directions. Some in anger and some in pain, but all were unmistakably human.

It was a night like none Earth had ever seen before, or would ever see again.

OoOoOo

She'd managed to walk the three miles to her house from where her car had been parked, perfectly usable, on the city street. Kathy counted her lucky stars that she was mostly unmolested. Someone had tried to grab her, hot and sick breath fanning her cheeks, but another man had taken offense to her cry of alarm. He tackled her would be attacker as she bolted once more. For a single moment in time she was so incredibly grateful that she did not wear heals or ridiculous impractical boots. Gray sneakers, dirty and worn, peeked up at her as if to offer comfort.

It made her sick to think what might be happening to others out there tonight. She'd shut every window, making sure they were latched, closed every blind or curtain, turned off the lights, and armed the alarm. She crept to her safe, and twirled the combination she knew by heart. Usually, she just kept important documents in the safe, some banking materials and important numbers, but she also store her gun there.

200 rounds of bullets with a .40 cal resting on top, felt oddly cold against her already damp skin. She was well beyond frightened, but still at the stage of functionality. She'd taken those damn conceal to carry classes, but she'd never practiced after it was over and she never carried the damn thing. She should have.

Her mind raced around and around spinning in circles. Aliens that wanted only women? Okay. That only really left three reasons for just women. Food, they could be incredibly tasty. Reproduction- she dry heaved a bit. Or lastly, labor/resource of some kind? '_Please, please, please, God do not let it be reproduction'_ she thought frantically to herself. 200,000 women from every nation? Okay there were at least 190 nations if not more. Her mind scrabbled to recall the exact number and if Taiwan was actually considered a nation or if it wasn't.

Her skin itched and she scratched absent mindedly.

200,000 times 190-ish was…

Why was she even doing this math? Kathy shook her head watching as the darkness stayed familiar except for the sound of her ragged breathing. Outside her home the sounds of human chaos reigned. She huddled into herself. The sound of guns and screams, violence and carnage caused her to shake like a leaf caught in a summer storm.

200,000 times 190-ish. Carrying the zeros…

She traced the numbers out into her palm, grateful for the minute distraction this provided. Adding that and then times this equaled; at least 38 million women. Kathy sat there dumbstruck. Sure there was close 7.24 billion people on earth so 38 million was just a drop in the bucket figuratively speaking. Right? But really what were the chances she'd be picked? There were 318 some odd million Americans alone. So her odds were close to that of being stuck by lightening right?

Yes, that had to be it. She'd be fine. The aliens would come take the women and leave. She already grieved at the thought of what those poor women would endure. She could already guess whatever race it was would want the athletes, the geniuses, and the exceptionally talented. Lucky her, she did not fall into any of those categories. They would at a bare minimum want the most physically perfect even if was just for options 1-3 of her possible reasons aliens wanted human women. Kathy wasn't even close to that!

And, she was probably way older than what they would want. She was 25. Why was she even concerned? For all she knew they considered themselves Roman gods and wanted virgins. Kathy was in the clear anyway she looked at it. She wasn't exceptionally pretty, or talented. She baked one mean loaf of bread, but what would they care about bread? In her head she started ticking off all of her negative traits as further 'proof' she'd never be chosen.

Her eye sight was terrible. Horrendous even. She couldn't see 6 inches in front of her face without her glasses!

She wasn't in particularly good shape. She wasn't fat by any means. She had a perfectly normal BMI. Not too slim, not too thick. Absolutely ordinary.

She looked like the girl next door. Nothing special there either.

She was smart, but no where near a genius level.

She was only mediocre at shooting, video games, and that included Tetris.

She had a permanent retainer! She'd forgotten all about that one! Yes, she had that in her lower jaw after her braces had been removed. She was a down right reject!

Kathy giggled softly to herself at the thought. They would take one look at her and send her right back! Ha! She wasn't even on that stupid list.

…The list! She jumped to her feet, holding tightly to her gun as she moved to her computer. The curtains were closed, so no one should be able to see the monitor's light. She'd be fine. Waiting for the darn thing to power on and warm up was a damned eternity. Quad processor her ass!

Finally the log in screen popped up and she nervously set her gun down to type. Her fingers felt cold and stiff. She clicked the internet explorer icon and Google greeted her in familiar colors. She simply typed 'Alien list'. The web nearly exploded on her. Kathy never thought she'd beat the internet before. IT was in every language, strewn over ever social media, and on every news station. With a shaky breath she clicked the link to the local new station.

It was plastered all over their page. The names, dates of birth, addresses, and even pictures of the women selected for the United States of America. She blew a shaky breath from chapped lips. Her eyes glued to the screen. Thank goodness someone had taken the time to put it in Alphabetical order. She'd never find it otherwise-

Katherine. She started breathing rapidly as she found her first name staring at her from behind the screen and it had never seemed so menacing before. She slowly scrolled the page. She was getting worked up for nothing. There was no way. No way!

She was on the fucking list. Kathy bit back sobs of horror. There, the 56th Katherine, was her face smiling back at her. Her driver's license photo.

Oh Dear God.

It had to be a mistake. It just HAD to be-

The sound of glass breaking, and wood splintering caused her to dive to the nearest corner, she scrambled back for her firearm as men and women, all clad in black, burst into her home.

"Are you Katherine?" One male voice boomed abortively.

"Oh please no," she cried pointing the gun at them. She'd never take them all.

"Put the gun down! Oh the ground!" Someone screamed and Kathy flung it at them. Suddenly she was knocked off balance and tasting her own tile floor. She was going to replace it this summer, her mind wandered as they ground her face down, wrenching her arms back.

"Are you-?"

"Yes," she sobbed hysterically. "I'm the one on the fucking list."

She felt a tiny pin-prick, and the world went dark and blissfully quiet.

OoOoOo

She woke with her head on someone's lap. Kathy shrieked and scrambled away.

"It's alright. I won't hurt you." A young woman with pretty blonde hair cajoled soothingly. "We're almost there." Her voice turned grave, and her beautiful face was ashen.

Kathy felt like a toad compared to most of the women in the … where the hell were they?

"There? Where is "there"?" Kathy asked worriedly. Her heart was racing, and her throat was gritty as well as dry.

"Wherever they are taking us," The blonde replied with frightened glance around. Kathy followed her gaze to the soldiers standing at the back of the truck. Yes, they were in a truck, she came to understand.

She felt small, so small, and frightened. This couldn't be real.

"I'm Susan," the woman said quietly. "Most of us were collected before the President's speech," her full pink lips turned into a sneer. "Some people were harder to find, so the government turned to the general public to root them out and hand them over."

"That doesn't seem like it would work," Kathy whispered.

"When you tell everyone they will be exterminated if they didn't hand us over? Trust me," she said with icy blue eyes piercing through Kathy, "It worked just fine."

"But," Kathy replied lamely, "the riots… the mayhem."

The blonde gave her a look of pity. "You didn't see the ships then?" It was a question and a statement all at once.

It took her breath away. Ships. Aliens. Alien Ships. OF dear lord she was going to be sick.

Susan rubbed her back and murmured gentle words while Kathy dry heaved next to her.

"This can't be real." She mumbled wiping traces of saliva off her mouth with the back of her hand.

"Don't bet on it precious," A woman with an Australian accent snarled at her. Kathy saw her skin was a lovely mocha shade, and her eyes reminded Kathy of the ashes after a nice roaring fire.

"They couldn't possibly have gathered 38 million women," she denied in agitation. That was simply not possible and even _if_ it were, there was no way the alien race could take them all away. Right?

Right?

Oh she was going to be ill again.

When at last the wracking muscle contractions stopped as she tried to empty her stomach of contents it didn't have, Kathy looked up again. There were so many of them, in this truck alone. All different statures, ethnicities, abilities… and then there was her. Seriously this had to be an error.

The truck lurched to a stop. Kathy winced as the soldiers opened the cargo door. The light of day caused her to hiss in pain. Her body throbbed and her head already hurt like a son of a bitch.

"Out!" One yelled loudly and the women stared angrily at the barrels of the guns pointed in their direction. Would they shoot them? Kathy truly thought that they would. If the world was at stake what was 38 million women? They moved in a single file, as if moving out of a bus they meshed as they moved forward. Kathy held onto Susan's hand tightly. The woman had to be a model, or an athlete. _Something._

The air was deathly quiet as she noticed the veritable throng of women. Her eyes widened as she stared aghast. This is what a sea of 200,000 selected and unwilling females looked like.

"Where are we?" Kathy asked in a panic.

"FEMA camp," some unknown woman all but declared with a twinge of paranoia lacing her words.

This was enough to fuck anybody up. Kathy stared at the women, but then she finally noticed that they were all moving forward. Shimmering, lights appeared and disappeared whenever Kathy blinked. Her heart dropped into the soles of her feet. The ship was utterly massive. That was the only word that would do to her terrified brain. It was taller than the empire state building! They all were. There were dozens of ships. How? How was this possible? It was so wide that Kathy could not comprehend the size, truly. There was no way that thing could fly.

Fly?

Oh gosh, she was staring at an alien space craft. Holy fuck. The world was spinning too. Was it supposed to do that?

Susan hauled her closer. Kathy mutely noticed that she was right. A lot of the women were athletes, soldiers even judging by the clothing, scientists, professors, and artists of some sort. Her world was spinning. No, no, no. This was something out of a Gene Rodenberry film. Not possible.

It became infinitely worse as she noticed the militia standing all around them. The women dared not rebel. If the threat was true, the humanity would be destroyed. Kathy was about ready to make a run for it, but she knew that she would not even make it 50 ft. And even if she escaped, what then? She looked all around, noting the uneasy looks of the soldiers, the shimmering things were back again, but when she blinked they were gone. She inched closer and closer. The line moved toward the behemoth ship. Her limbs felt as if they were weighed down by stone.

Her mind rallied against all that was happening, but her body was on auto pilot. She clasped Susan's hand tighter as they started up the ramp. Their turn to go into the belly of the beast. Kathy had never been so afraid of living as she was in this moment. The shuffled in, their eyes adjusting to the darkness. That was when Kathy saw one of them.

So tall, so covered in armor, the head and tentacles protruding from its body were so very, very wrong.

"This isn't happening," she whispered as tears pricked the edge of her vision. She wanted to turn and flee, but it was too late. The door was closing. The women started screaming, some yelled, some pushed, some snarled, but there was nothing they could do.

They were hideous. They were terrifying. And Kathy prayed that they would eat them quickly.

Strange shimmers like the ones she'd seen, followed by even stranger clicks, whirrs, and rumblings. She turned to see them all standing there. Their number was among the thousands. How had they not seen them before? The women all the ones Kathy had been loaded in with silenced instantly. All of them were on guard and afraid that they had been volunteered to their deaths. However the gruesome aliens simply stood there just staring at the females. Their gazes were so dreadfully predatory.

Predatory, and excited.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing! Thank you for the suggestions on what to read. And there was a question about rape. I am not planning on any, and IF (I do mean IF) it does occur it will NOT be described in detail. I really do not believe it will be put in here. **

**I own nothing. Rated M. May be a sensitive topic for some. Reader beware.**

OoOoOo

Kathy woke slowly. Her mind tried to comprehend when she had even fallen asleep. She was disoriented but as she cracked her eyes open, she saw the ship leaving, just the back of the monstrous thing. It zipped up and out of the sky so quickly, she had to blink. Her body ached. Her head throbbed, and she attempted to roll unsuccessfully to her side.

This had to be how turtles felt.

With a grunt and groan she tried again. Her limbs felt strangely heavy. After a few moments of an embarrassing struggle, she settled for lolling her head over to see. There beside her were other women. The two next to her appeared to still be asleep. Kathy found It odd that they both had the same type of necklace with a strange almost alien crystal on it.

Alien…

Her eyes widened and she renewed her attempts to get up with real fervor. This wasn't happening. It wasn't happening. Without grace, and possibly the passing of some gas, she managed to roll herself over and pushed partway to her knees. She looked again. There had to be one hundred woman all lined up in rows. They all had that strange crystal tag; it almost looked like a tag, around their necks. Her head dropped forward to her chest and she huffed.

Damn. She had one too.

Her clothes appeared to be untouched, as did every other part of her. Thank goodness.

She tried to stand, but promptly fell over. Her hands stung from bracing for her fall, and felt the air whoosh out of her. That wasn't her brightest idea. It looked like she was crawling to get anywhere for a little while. She amused herself, to quell some of the growing panic, by pretending she was on some Hollywood set for the part of GI Jane.

She even cracked a little smirk, but it quickly died when she looked at the clearing they were in. Purple grass was all around her, tinged slightly with orange. What the hell? She'd never seen anything like it and couldn't help but to stare at it as if it would bite her. Was that possible? This wasn't Earth anymore was it?

She was going to be sick.

She fought back against the wave of nausea. She had to find Susan. Was Susan even here? It was desperation driving her forward. Susan was the only woman she'd met before the horrid ship with those giant Alien _things_. Forcing her limbs to cooperate, she crawled slowly at first. Then she started to gain momentum. She moved past the rows of women searching for blonde hair. There were all so different. Nearly no one had any kind of similar feature.

What was she even supposed to do it she found Susan? Her mind prompted her, but she didn't want to think that far. Kathy didn't really even know how to start a fire without matches. Sure, she'd seen the weird side of YouTube, where they showed a bunch of survival tips and tricks. She'd paid attention to them, but theory and practice were completely separate things. She gave a glare at the grass once more. What if it was fireproof? Plants could grow that way right? On Alien worlds she supposed they could. Or what if it released a poisoned gas?

How was she even going to be able to eat? There was no way they'd ever know what was and wasn't consumable. Or what if like Earth plants, only some parts were and others would make you sick?

No. Stop. First things first. '_They're likely going to kill us all anyway. I don't know why I am even bothering to worry about food.'_ She thought darkly.

Minutes ticked by and others were starting to open their eyes or to make groans. Oh thank goodness. They were alive. She hadn't even gotten far enough to check. Kathy tried to stand once more. This time her legs wobbled, but held her. Then as she looked over the rows of women, Kathy saw Susan.

She took a step forward, and came crashing down again.

Son of a bitch. It hurt all over again. She was getting nowhere fast. Some seemed in better shape than her. Two women were already able to sit up and move around. Others were starting to cry out in fear.

"Over here," Kathy called and waited. Those that could; turned to look at her.

"Bonjour? Qui êtes-vous? Où sommes-nous?" A woman answered back.

Kathy blinked at her. Oh dear lord. Was that French? She didn't speak French. Bonjour was 'Hello' she knew that.

"Hi?" Kathy replied awkwardly. Her left eye squinted up to show her confusion.

"Anglais?" The black haired woman asked.

"Yes?" Kathy tried; she wasn't really all that sure what was happening.

"Ceea ce sa întâmplat?" A shorter woman demanded with dark hair, and a mean temper.

"Uh…" She answered eloquently. Then there was talking as most of the women were awake and some chattered to each other.

"Utuk Xul," A dark skinned woman wailed over and over. "Utuk Xul. Utuk Xul."

"Kathy?"

That was a voice she recognized. "Susan!" She cried out in relief as she stumbled to her feet once more.

"What were those things?" The Australian sounding woman from the truck ride asked, trying to move herself to a sitting position.

"I don't know," Kathy answered honestly, "but you saw them right?"

"Of course I bloody saw them!" The woman snapped. "You'd have to be blind to miss those beasts." She huffed, and spat at the ground angrily.

"Who are you?" Kathy asked suddenly, trying to change the subject.

"Joan." The clipped reply came readily.

"Kathy."

"I know."

Well, she was certainly a ball of sunshine. However, Kathy didn't blame her for being less than cordial. This was all so surreal, that it was a strain on all of them. Susan stared hard at the necklace around Kathy's neck.

"What is that?"

"We all have one. I don't know what it is. But it must be important." Kathy replied shakily. Seriously? Who expected her to know? Granted, she knew the questions were rhetorical, however, she was as confused and frightened as the rest of them.

"Are you Americans?" A decidedly hard female voice asked gruffly.

Kathy saw a woman in soldiers garb. She could only nod at the other woman.

"Whitmore," the Soldier introduced herself quickly.

"Like it says on your uniform," Susan joked quickly. It eased the tension and they all cracked a slight smile.

"Where are the others?"

"How would we know?" Joan asked in exasperation. "Don't you get it? We've been taken off our planet and-"

"Dumped on a new one," Kathy stated gently.

Joan glared at her and continued. "If it is the size of _Earth_, and if could be much larger or smaller, but if it is the size of Earth we may never run into them again."

Silence prevailed through the group. They hadn't thought about that. A planet, an alien planet, and they had been dumped in a cluster of one hundred. That only left them over 38 million women shy. Dear Lord, she could barely comprehend that the other women could be scattered about the planet in clusters just like them. They may never run into each other at all. IF they even came close, there could be miles and miles of terrain between them. Who knew what kind of terrain it was? There could be deserts, jungles, flood plains, tundra, and even more types of climate she'd never even seen before.

Or animals. Kathy lurched around suddenly freaked out at the idea of some weird lion-boar thing trying to eat her. Her mind kicked into high gear and she saw all those freaky Sci-Fi creatures from late night T.V. coming to life to get them. Or worse still, things they couldn't see. Like their captors.

Or a Sharknado.

She looked up at a slightly darker blue sky worriedly.

"What are you doing?" Susan whispered to her.

"Looking for more ships," she lied feebly.

Susan however, bought the excuse, and nodded grimly.

"What could they want us for? Huh Soldier? You're with the government."

"I'm not that high up," she replied with irritation. "I don't know shit."

Kathy glanced around to the other women, they were huddled in groups of three to five. Strange. However, it looked as if everyone had someone else they could talk to. She sure hoped that was the case. She didn't speak, read, or understand any language other than English.

"So they just dumped us on a planet with these things around our necks. Why? To what end?" Susan asked with a look of concentration on her face.

No one answered. Their eyes showed they had already thought up a multitude of terrible possibilities, but no one dared voice them. Kathy however, couldn't let the thought go. Clustered in small numbers, placed all over the world-Theoretically.

"It's like an Easter egg hunt." She muttered to herself.

"What?" Joan demanded with wide eyes.

"It's like an Easter egg hunt," Kathy sated a little more forcefully. "We're clustered all over the world, in who knows how many locations."

"They aren't _hunting_ us though," Whitmore pointed out, "we haven't even seen them since the ship and if they took us just to kill us, and they could have done that easily on Earth."

She had an excellent point. Kathy colored at how silly her idea sounded now.

"That would also imply we are a prize of some sort," Whitmore continued.

"Well we haven't been anal probed as far as I can tell," Joan quipped, "and that is a good start for me."

Anal probes. Now that invoked all sorts of images in Kathy's mind she'd rather not think about.

"Maybe it is another form of colonization?" Susan suggested quickly.

"Colonizing us without men?" Whitmore asked dubiously.

"A Labor force?" Susan rebutted.

"Once again, and no offense to us as a gender; men are a lot stronger in many respects for that."

Joan barked out a laugh. "Try going through child birth," she quipped.

"You have a kid?" Kathy couldn't help but ask.

"_Kids_," Joan corrected. "I've got two. I have a husband too. Back home." She looked away, her eyes terribly sad. All the women took a moment of silence to remember.

_Home._ Kathy longed to go back home. Even just to sit on her couch or maybe grow a garden this year. As she looked at the purple grass again, she couldn't help but feel as if that wouldn't be happening ever again.

"Look at us," Susan said suddenly causing everyone to focus back on her. "All of these women, us included. The oldest couldn't be more than 29 and some of the other girls are maybe 18. Maybe," she stressed with a frown forming on her lips. "There is a reason for that?"

Kathy could think of one. But it involved the words breeding, hybrid, and gross. She shuddered to herself.

"I really don't want to think about it," Kathy replied feeling butterflies, battle wasps in her stomach.

Then the clicking started. Kathy froze. She would recognize that sound until the day she died.

"Well, there must-"

"Sh!" Kathy said spinning around trying to locate the sound. The women stood eerily still. Others still chattered away.

"Quiet!" Whitmore roared and slowly the conversations of the other women stopped.

It was a soft chattering almost, and Kathy realized they all heard it. Many faces turned ashen, some took an involuntary step backward. They huddled closer into each other as the sounds grew closer. There in the other part of the purple field more than three hundred feet away, several of the overgrown aliens came into view. Almost as if by magic.

One clicked as the females stayed ridged and silent.

"No weapons," it said loudly enough for them to hear, but it sounded like a human man's voice. "No weapons," it stated again and made a huge show of pulling in the blades on its guard.

Kathy thought, that perhaps this meant a nice civil discussion. Right up until it roared as loudly as if could, and the others joined in with it.

Upon hearing that noise, it had the same effect as someone braking at a rack of pool. The women scattered in all directions. Kathy turned her head out of fear and reflex. She noticed briefly the other aliens, all dressed in armor staring at them from their left.

Mutely she stood still for a moment, as others brushed passed her. She stared directly at one of the beasts, seemingly unable to move. Her mind thought about it, but her body couldn't obey. She didn't scream, she didn't cry, she was far too afraid for that. She stared at the inky black eyes. After a second, it appeared to take notice of her. Less than a heartbeat had passed, but Kathy could tell that it was assessing her. Gauging her reactions perhaps? It roared directly at her.

That was all the encouragement she needed. Kathy felt Susan's hand close around her wrist.

"Kathy, we have to go!" Susan shouted as she tugged at her. Kathy followed behind, noticing that some women were already heading toward treed areas, some toward rocks, and more toward valleys. She looked behind her once, just once, to see if they followed.

She saw nothing at all, except a shimmer in the light.

Then, as if her ears had suddenly lost the ability to hear anything except the thundering of her own heart. Her mind jogged her memory that they were all running for their lives from huge alien creatures that wanted to do something to them, she didn't know what, without weapons.

Well thank the Lord for small favors.

They rushed over hills, and found an outcropping of large, grey rocks. Kathy stumbled, and tried to ignore the stitch in her side.

"Keep up," Whitmore warned her sternly.

"I don't… see them." Kathy panted.

"We aren't going to," Susan said grimly, wiping sweat from her brow. "Who knows how long they'd been there.

"They have some sort of cloaking devises," Joan threw in quickly.

'_Like in Star Trek?'_ Kathy thought bemusedly to herself. Except this was a lot scarier than those episodes she'd watched, and she wasn't even wearing a red shirt, but she was relatively sure she was going to die.

"We have to get over these rocks, and look for higher ground," Whitmore said decisively.

"No, that is just what they would expect us to do," Joan argued.

"Because that is the smart thing to do," Whitmore snapped.

"Tāmen láile, wǒmen yīnggāi líkāi." An Asian woman urged at them. Kathy looked to see that several other women had followed with them. They had no idea where they were going.

"We have to get smaller," Kathy stated worriedly. "If there are too many of us we can't move quickly."

Whitmore gave her an approving nod. "We can't just leave them behind."

"I didn't say that," Kathy half-snarled out in frustration. This was a damned if you do or damned if you don't scenario.

Joan gave a bitter and defeated laugh.

"What?" Kathy asked.

"You say that like we have a chance of getting out of this."

They didn't, did they? They were stuck on an alien planet with only God knew what else. Even if they managed to avoid the Aliens, what were they going to do? What if someone got sick or injured? Kathy swallowed a lump in her throat.

"Don't lose hope yet," Susan said angrily. "Or we are done before we begin."

It seemed the others were done waiting for them, as women pushed past them saying things angrily in languages Kathy didn't understand. She grew more nervous and agitated. They should keep moving. Instinct told her that much.

"Lets find water," Susan suggested. "Maybe we will be harder to find near water."

"That could work," Whitmore grudgingly admitted, "but if they follow the water way with us, it could lead us to trouble."

"Well we have to do something," Kathy insisted. She looked at Joan and took her hand. "Come on, you can tell me about your kids along the way."

The mention of her children seemed to bring Joan back to life again. She nodded quickly, and wiped a stray tear back with her other hand. "Yes, come on. No time to dawdle when there are aliens chasing after us."

Kathy smiled. "Where would water be?"

Susan shrugged. "We'll just have to find out."

The Asian woman, it seemed, was sticking with them because she followed as they veered away from the rocks and decided to walk what Kathy could only assume was North. There really was no way to tell. Their spirits seemed a bit low, but it was to be expected. Joan told Kathy briefly of her two daughters at home. Of the husband she loved and wanted to return to; and the father-in-law she was going to castrate for turning her over to the government.

It took them a few hours to find water. Or what they all thought was water anyway. It was a small pond, dark in color and tinged with green. Well, perhaps it was scum. They moved trying to look at everything. It was an alien world, but something was very off.

"Is that…?" Whitmore started only to trail off.

Corn. Kathy couldn't believe her eyes. It was freaking corn, out here on a planet that was not Earth.

"And that is…" Susan said in wonder, "an apple tree?"

How was this even possible? They were settled in with strange curling trees, sweeping grasses, and brightly colored flowers that were not from their planet. Kathy felt a sinking sense of dread in the pit of her stomach. Food. It was consumable human food, which had been growing here for an untold amount of time. Unaltered in anyway.

Just how long had they been planning this? That tree was too large to be a sapling, and it was bearing fruit. Kathy edged closer, against her better judgment. Her fingers trembled as she reached up to touch a single leaf.

"_Susan."_

"What is it?"

"_Susan_."

"Kathy, that really isn't funny right now. Stop saying my name. I can see the tree."

Kathy turned toward her, face perplexed. "But I'm not."

"_Susan_." And their eyes widened.

Kathy was disturbed, it was her voice. However, she wasn't the one talking.

"_We have to go_," and now it was Susan's voice echoing from a place they couldn't make out.

The clicking came once more.


	3. Chapter 3

**I am just overjoyed that this has been so well received and for all the reviews! Thank you! I really appreciate the time taken to leave them. **

**I own nothing. Rated M. May be a sensitive topic for some. Reader beware.**

OoOoOo

She'd never been so keenly aware of being entirely defenseless in her life. They had no weapons. They had no way of making anything that didn't date back to the Stone Age for weapons, and at least seven feet of whatever the heck that was; was standing near them. They also had no idea where to go or what was around them.

This was not going to end well, she imagined to herself.

Whitmore was the first to react, her face flashing horrified understanding. "Run!" She shouted with her voice deeper in fear. "Run now!"

Kathy watched as she trampled what had been the cornstalk into the ground. Kathy could not explain it, but she felt saddened at its loss. Perhaps it was because it was a link to a world she would never see again, or it could have been because she wasn't certain they would find anything else to eat.

And, provided they survived the next few minutes, they _would_ need to eat. She still wasn't sure what they could do about water.

That was as far as her thoughts went. She was already turning to flee, but her eyes caught the black figure watching them on the sidelines. It was several meters away, and as absurd as it seemed; it was simply watching them. It hardly seemed interested, and Kathy was hit with the peculiar notion that he was likely thinking over how tasty she would be sautéed with some strange alien equivalent of mushrooms. Her mind quickly changed thought topics to keep her alive. '_Run_,' it reminded her.

A shimmer in the trees, caught her attention. She made the mistake of turning her whole body toward it as she remained still akin to a deer watching headlights. It clicked, she thought, at her. Then, as if it sensed the rouse was up, became visible.

Kathy about wet her pants.

Her gaze flicked between the one in the trees, which at a distance still looked mind-numbingly frightening, and the one standing only meters from her. The one in the trees looked directly at her.

She whimpered. Feeling fear flood her veins in such intensity that she almost forgot what she had been doing.

It continued to watch, but made no movement forward.

She bolted, far behind the others. However, it occurred to her that whatever they were had not attacked them yet. So far, they had frightened them into running. And, somewhere in the far corners of her mind, she realized that was not a good thing. Her breathing was harsh sounding to her own ears. Her feet felt like lead as she stomped through the rough portions of vegetation. Plant life of unknown origin grabbed at her. She prayed silently that no one of it would make her deathly ill. Granted, that only mattered if she managed not to die.

It scratched at her skin, tangled in her hair as she ran faster than she'd ever done before. Kathy was not an athlete, and had never trained for distance running or sprinting. She tired quickly and panted heavily. Soon she was forced to stop, or risk falling and injury. Her lungs felt as if they were on fire. She puffed and panted for breath. Her face felt hot and her body over exerted. She dripped sweat onto the ground. She could not see the others nor did she hear them.

She was lost. Alone. She was alone in an alien forest of some sort, being followed or chased by menacing armored extraterrestrials. And, she did not know if she would run into another person at all, let alone her group. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and swallowed excess spittle. Her body was on high alert, and her nerves were frazzled as she listened for sound. Any sound at all, but dread pooled low in the pit of her stomach that she would hear the all too familiar clicking.

She heard nothing. No sounds of wildlife at all. It seemed odd, but she couldn't recall if she'd ever heard sounds like that since the moment she'd woken up on this planet.

Oh, what was she going to do?

Kathy rubbed at her face, both to get rid of sweat and as a habit. '_Alright, maybe just maybe, if I head back they will be gone and the girls will be there._' She thought it seemed like a decent enough plan, but going back would mean she might run into those things or worse, get caught by them. Should she decide to do that anyway, there was always the risk that the other women weren't there and she'd made the trip for nothing while also further separating herself from the group.

A scream, long and loud, echoed in the distance. The hair on her arms and neck stood on end. Before she could think about what she was doing, she was running again. It was much slower than before, her body having used up too much energy with nothing to replace it. Her muscles ached, and her breathing was strained. Kathy tripped her way through the vegetation once more toward the direction of the sound. Though she knew not if the person in distress would be alive when she got there, or what the hell she was going to do once she did get there, Kathy pressed onward. The minutes ticked by like hours to her frightened and drained mind.

A noise of pain, or perhaps fear drew her attention upward. Then she saw it, swinging in the trees. It was a net, and someone was inside of it.

"Kathy? Oh thank God. Get me down from here!" Susan's voice was like music to her ears.

Panic set in. How was she even supposed to get her down? Kathy looked at the line of what she hoped was rope that kept Susan in her net, suspended at least five feet off the ground.

"Where is everyone?" She wondered aloud, and Susan started to cry.

"They left me. They fucking left me!" She wailed. The net shook as she thrashed.

It was likely her paranoia, but Kathy was concerned the aliens were nearby. "Sh!" She urged the equally frightened woman. "They'll hear you."

Kathy pushed the hair out of her eyes as she whipped around looking for shimmers, creatures, and scary armored giants. Her warning caused Susan to quiet instantly. Kathy cautiously stepped around the base of the tree holding Susan. How was she going to get her down? She didn't have a knife or anything sharp. She scanned the area but saw nothing that could even help. To make matters worse, there wasn't a knot to be untied. It wasn't even really rope. It was some sort of strange fiber mesh looking thing. Kathy didn't even know how to describe it.

"Get me down," Susan demanded near hysterics.

"I'm trying," Kathy snapped back. Fear and anger at their current predicament roared to life inside her. "Okay," she said to herself, "okay. I'll think of something. There has to be a button or a lever, or-"

She could try to climb the tree. It was far from ideal, but everything about this situation seemed wrong. However, she couldn't just leave Susan behind. Though it had not stopped their other companions, she could still curse their pragmatic reasoning. Kathy adjusted her glasses and grit here teeth. '_Here goes nothing,_' she thought acerbically.

She was not by nature a climber of anything, except into bed. It had suited her well all of her life up until this point. She was unable to tell just by looking what limb could or could not bear her weight. She gripped the nearest limb with one hand. It snapped off in her hand.

"Hurry!" Susan whispered.

Kathy nodded mutely. Her heart hammered in worry that the noise of the limb snapping would somehow alert every single one of those damn things. She was sincerely trying, but things were not changing toward the better. She tried the next limb, and it held. With dwindling strength, she pulled herself up. It was not an easy feat. Her shoes scrapped against the bark as she reached for the next limb. Her ears listened for every sound as they drowned out the beat of her heart.

'_Don't look down, Kathy,_' she encouraged herself gently. '_Don't look down. Just a few more limbs to go. That's it. Just a few more.'_

The tree swayed a bit with her weight, and she clung to it akin to a cat about to be thrown in the river. Her nails bit in deep to the bark. She prayed she wouldn't fall. Susan made a noise of agitation. Kathy tried to seem unaffected, but her knees trembled so badly that it was a struggle to keep her balance. Her eyes focused on where the line for the rope and the net held together. She gingerly lowered herself onto her belly. Her clothes catching on small protrusions in the tree as she slid forward.

"Please hurry," Susan whispered.

"I'm almost there," she reassured, though inside she was screaming that it was taking too long and they were both going to be eaten if she didn't hurry.

"I-" she said worriedly to Susan as her hand snagged the gathering of fiber mesh, "I have no way to stop you from falling."

Understanding dawned in Susan's eyes and she nodded quickly. "It's alright. Just get me out of here."

"O-okay," Kathy stuttered unsurely.

Her fingers felt damp as she twisted and pulled at the two parts. The limb swayed under her and she made a yelping sound as it caught her off guard. She held on, and tried once more. Suddenly it gave way, as she watched half-horrified as Susan plummeted to the ground.

The sound of her body hitting the dirt was a little sickening. Kathy watched with baited breath, hoping against hope that her legs hadn't been broken.

"I'm alright," Susan said after a moment, her voice strained. She was obviously winded and Kathy scrambled to get back down the tree. She failed to remember every limb she had used on the way up, and was equally slow coming down as she had been going up. Susan thrashed on the ground trying to wriggle out of the net.

About the time that Kathy's feet landed on the ground from the last limb was about the time the furious roar of something big and rather pissed off could be heard. She looked and just as she'd feared it was the big one from before. Or, she thought it was. They were hard to tell apart. She didn't have much experience in the subtleties of Alien appearances.

"Oh shit," Susan murmured.

Kathy agreed. She slowly edged to the side of the tree. Watching in fascination as the creature's massive muscled arms threw out to its sides and roared again. It started forward, too fast for them to get a head start. Kathy tried anyway, making a desperate dive for the net. Her fingers grasped at nothing. Its deadly mask stared back at her, snarling its rage. Susan thrashed in the net once more.

"No!" She screamed terrified as Kathy rolled away from what would have been an exceptionally unpleasant blow. "Kathy run! Get away!"

She was going to die. They both were going to die. The Alien, its predatory gaze sharpened on her as she desperately moved backward, shuffling along the ground in an attempt to get away. She could feel the sensation of impending doom.

She would never understand why she did it, or what made it happen, but her lounge clicked against the roof of her mouth twice.

The Alien stilled, looking back at her with rage still evident in its posture. It looked from Susan, to Kathy, then back again. A strange chuffing noise emitted from it as it stared at Susan. It clicked at her, then started to rumble low in its chest.

"Let go of me you bastard!" Susan yelled, twisting the net as she attempted, ineffectually to strike the creature.

Kathy could have sworn the damn thing chuckled. The alien released Susan from the net, by dumping her on the ground. Kathy reached for her, only to freeze as the creature snarled at her. It was a warning, she could tell. Her glasses slipped toward the end of her nose, and under normal circumstances she would have pushed them back, but she dared not move. It felt as if ice were running through her veins and not the iron rich blood she knew was there. And hoped would be there for a long time yet.

Faster than she'd seen any of them move, it snatched Susan up by her arm as she hurled insults, threats, and lashed out against it. Kathy watched dismayed as Susan struck the creature over and over again to no avail. Susan scratched at it, kicked at it, and even attempted to bite it. The Alien was undisturbed as it stretched forward a hand and stroked the necklace around Susan's neck. A strange blue-white light raced down its wrist and hand into the crystal. Soon a symbol appeared that Kathy had never seen before.

"Let me go!" Susan howled again.

The predatory alien stared at Kathy again, and roared so loud she had to cover her ears. She flinched back as it echoed all around them in the perfect stillness. When at last it finished, Kathy looked up to see it swing Susan up over its shoulder.

"Help!"

Something in Kathy snapped, and she stood up to charge the beast. She had taken three steps forward when it pushed her aside as if she were a nuisance and sent her tumbling on the ground. She could taste dirt and blood. She moved, feeling pain flash through her body. She shook her head to clear the sensation away. Struggling, she grasped a rock near her side; it was not impressive in size but rather small and threw it at the giant.

It struck it with a tiny 'tink' noise. Kathy moved to her feet as the Alien turned, disbelief somehow conveyed in its stance. Kathy's eyes widened in horror as two more of the creatures shimmered into view next to the one absconding with Susan.

"Kathy run!" Susan said when she too had seen the creatures. "Forget about me. Go!"

She did not want to leave Susan behind. It was wrong, but there was _nothing_ she could do for the woman and Kathy knew that. With a look a resigned sadness bordering on heartbreak, she turned to flee.

Her eyes landed on another group of three of the giants. Her heart stilled in her chest. Kathy stumbled a few feet away from both sets. The rightmost one of the second group advanced toward her. It was even larger than the one that had captured Susan. His tentacles puffed up a bit, and it chittered at her. She stared at it. It growled at her.

Her eyes glanced over every inch of him as she backed up step after step. He was grayer than the others, though still a slightly yellow-green color; his tentacles had more adornments than the first groups. She had no idea what it meant, if it meant anything at all except it liked shiny things. Large; he was undeniably, terrifyingly, large. They had on strange loincloth things, and It was striped on its skin. Was it even called skin?

She swallowed quickly.

When had they gotten there? How long had they even been there? How many more were hidden that she couldn't see. A roar from her left caused her to look and one of the other Aliens with the one holding Susan was acting aggressively. It growled and snarled at the one drawing closer to her. The Alien stalking her didn't appear too keen on being interrupted, for it roared a terrible roar and clicked angrily back. Gestures. They were both making gestures she did not understand. She continued to back up. Step after step.

In an instant the two were at each other's throats. Literally. Their silver masks glinted in the sunlight, each seeming as deadly as the other. She noted dimly that the larger one had more armor on, and were… those… skulls? Kathy felt sick.

The bones clatter a bit when they tackled each other and started pummeling with strangely human looking fists. The sound of flesh on armor, on flesh was nauseating and Kathy glanced over to Susan. The blonde woman had tears streaming down her cheeks and she waved at Kathy to get the hell out of there. As if sensing what Susan was up to, the one holding Susan turned to leave. Kathy made a noise of desperation. Her body pulled toward trying to stop the brute.

A deep rumble alerted her to the still present threat of the other Aliens that had been standing about passively.

"_Kathy,_" One of the creatures in front of her replayed in Susan's voice. "_Kathy, run."_

And God help her. She did. Her ears haunted by the sounds of their laughter and Susan screaming.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey again! Sorry for the bunch of updates. I am trying to keep the ball rolling. Thank you for reviewing! It keeps me going along. **

**I own nothing. Rated M. May be a sensitive topic for some. Reader beware.**

OoOoOo

She wasn't going to make it. Kathy knew that as she still tried to force her exhausted body to move. Halting steps, that is what she was reduced to. Feet that stumbled over each other until she fell, limply into the mud. Mud that certainly did not feel like mud as the consistency seemed far more like mucous than water and dirt. The terrain had all blended in on itself as tunnel vision had set in. She had only been able to focus on what was directly in front of her. It was the same drive she had heard of from survivors of terrible ordeals. She hardly even remembered which way she had ran.

Too exerted to even care that she could easily be caught and killed by those horrid things, she allowed her eyes to wander. Was this what it was like to give up? It certainly felt like it. She rolled onto her back. A strange large bush could offer her protection if she had the strength to roll a little more.

Stillness greeted her. A quiet determination to do one final thing, over took her as she rolled with notable slowness. She did not care that her only clothing was horribly dirty, or that she was quite literally stuck between a rock and a hard place. Wearily, she eyed the sheer rock face of what she could only assume was some sort of cliff far above her. She could hear water not too far from her, the air seemed damper here. Or perhaps she had sweated so much it was filling her lungs now.

She knew enough to understand she needed water, but rest called far stronger. She could not move her muscles. Her body barley even shivered against the feeling of cold from the mud. Her mind drifted back to being dumped here on this planet, and of the other 99 women who must surely be out there somewhere.

She felt like a damn coward. Surely, she could have done more for Susan? Why hadn't she fought to begin with? Why had she stood there? Her body had refused to move. She cried, but her body lacked the moisture to produce even a few crystalline tears. Had the others made it? Those who were worse than Kathy herself? They had simply left Susan. Anger burned her chest, but did nothing more. She tormented herself with scenarios where Susan would have been safe if the others had been there. It ranged from the possible, like distracting them and running, to the impossible of a Rambo on steroids blasting the creatures to high hell.

She was alone again, only this time she doubted even good fortune would come her way. What were the odds of her finding what was likely a dwindling group of women? Astronomical, she was sure. A saccharine smile painted her lips at the thought. How funny. _Astronomical_.

There was no sound to help ease her into the wakeful sleep that only the terrified know. One moment she was drowning in sorrow, fear, and self-pity. The next she was waking to darkness. Still, silent, deadly, and peaceful darkness greeted her. Kathy would have been startled, but she could feel the edges of despair pulling her deeper into a hole she had very little chance of avoiding. Her eyes stared straight ahead, never moving. She blinked languidly.

Her breaths were even and relaxed still. Guilt still weighed heavily on her. She should have saved Susan somehow. It should have been her on that monster's shoulder. If she had only been faster, or if she had not lagged so far behind to begin with.

Her fault. It was somehow all her fault. Maybe she should just let them take her when the time came. She heard the sounds and saw the lights of ships taking off into the night sky. Her dazed psyche struggled to accept what she was seeing. It would have been eerily beautiful; however Kathy could guess that each ship rocketing into the atmosphere held a captive woman aboard. For what nefarious purposes she still did not know. However, they seemed to want to take them alive.

It did not bode well for the darker parts of her mind that turned over the possibilities again. Forced labor seemed less and less likely. And, what had that symbol which had appeared in Susan's necklace meant? Her stomach rumbled its displeasure at a lack of sustenance. How long had it been since she had eaten? One day? Three? How long had she been out or on that ship? How long had she been here? Did one day here equate to one day on Earth?

She quietly watched the night sky come to life as ships ferried out. Her heart mourning the women she would never have been able to save. Mourning being on the list herself, she silently prayed for a fate that wouldn't leave her begging for death. She should have just let them take her. Most anything had to be better than lying covered in strange mud under a bush by an alien watering hole.

"-_dhi'rauta lou-dte kale,_" Something hissed in a strange dark tone that sent shivers up her spine. Her breathing nearly stopped all together when a large armored boot came into her focus. Kathy continued to stare straight ahead. All previous thoughts of allowing herself to be taken melted into the darkness which encompassed her.

It could talk. '_Of course they could talk_,' she admonished to herself, '_they can build ships capable of space travel beyond our wildest dreams. It stood to reason they could do more than click_.' She hoped that she could pretend to be dead if they found her. The water gushing not too far from her, though she had not seen it, helped calm some of her fear. It was a natural response to a soothing sound. However, she still had to focus on keeping her breaths as quiet as possible. She was very scared and it made that rather hard, but she'd seen enough horror movies to know that hyperventilating was not an option. However it was much easier said than done.

Growls and clicks filled the air. '_Holy shit_,' she thought to herself as she started to panic and pant.

"_Ka'Torag-na?"_

A growl resonated right above her.

'_This is it. I'm done for,_' she thought as she closed her eyes in mute surrender to her fate. Seconds ticked by as she waited for the thing to grab her up as had been done to her friend. Seconds passed as she lay there praying for her heart not to beat out of her chest.

The boots made a squelching sound in the mud momentarily as the creature turned. Kathy opened her eyes cautiously. Daring herself to gather the courage, she looked up. It was… different somehow. Tall, and muscular as they all were, but it seemed more interested in the area where she had fallen down hours ago. Its sliver armor casting some reflection in the darkness as the skulls painted it a gruesome sort of being. It sounded almost as if it were purring. It touched the mud without sound, and stared at it a moment then it sniffed at it.

The thing was _tracking_ her. It wouldn't take much to figure out where she had gone. She was right here, and there was no way it could miss her. With all of its untold technology, it probably knew right where she was, her bra size, and how much money she had in her checking account.

Her eyes widened in fear as it crouched down and looked under the bush right at her. Her breath caught in her lungs, and she closed her eyes again against the terror welling up inside of her. It took every ounce of willpower she had not to scream directly in the thing's face.

She could hear it breathing, and could hear nothing but a chattering. Either it was alerting them she was there and she would be dragged up and taken away at any moment or-

She peeked one eye open, her glasses smudged and dirty, but she didn't even care. There was nothing in front of her. The boots were retreating and the shimmer reappeared as they faded from sight.

For one single moment a ray of hope shown through her murky world of survivor's guilt and self-doubt as she drew a conclusion as to why it had passed her by. It had looked directly at her, but hadn't seen her. There could be only one reason why it hadn't snatched her up.

Their kind couldn't see in the dark.

OoOoOo

Dawn came, and she was half frozen through. She had not had access to fire or anything to dry her soaked through clothes. Rain had started, softly at first in the night, but she had chosen to lay there under that bush, too frightened of the things that might come back at any moment. She'd waited, miserable and cold for light to crest over the planet again. Kathy wasn't sure how quickly hypothermia could set in, or if she would die in the night but it was preferable to being capture. She huffed a warm breath over her numb fingers. Every part of her shook.

She quietly crept as quickly as she could to the sound of the water. She hadn't been more than thirty feet away all night. The water looked a bit clearer than the first pond she'd come across what seemed like ages ago. Was it clean? She had no way to tell or to purify it. Gritting her teeth, and hating the taste of alien dirt in her mouth, she decided that she was just as likely to die from a sickness in the dirt. She tried to scoop some water in her hands, but they felt stiff. Keeping one hand cupped she lowered it into the water and brought it up to her mouth.

Cool water, chilled her already cold body. Still, she drank greedy handfuls, as her body demanded the life sustaining liquid.

Kathy shivered and shook. Her stomach grumbled at its mistreatment, but she had lost her sense of direction last night. Not, that she ever truly had one to begin with. Whitmore had led them, and Kathy had simply followed. Now there was no one with her, and she was growing weaker with the more energy she expended but failed to replace. Her best bet, she decided, was to keep moving forward along the rock edge. If more of the Aliens came, she could easily hide in any dark caverns that might be present.

She, on some level, knew she was deluding herself, but this was survival and some part of her was not ready to give up yet. If she were insanely lucky, or witnessing a mirage, she might see another source of human food and even have time to snag a piece of fruit. In between freezing to death and running for her life.

Yes, it sounded about as marvelous as it felt.

She looked at herself in the reflection of the water. From head to what she could see, she was caked in dirt, mud, and a little bit of blood on the side of her face. She squirmed at the thought of what sort of contagion was already swimming through her body. It hardly mattered much now that her clothes were as dirty as they were possibly going to get. One side of her face had already swelled from her previous encounter with the Alien that had cast her aside as if she were a rag doll.

If it were not for the cold, she knew she would be in a notable amount of pain.

She had to move. She was out in the open, or at least where they could see. It was starting to get bright. Irrationally she hoped that if she stayed by the water, or water ways she might find other women. Her instincts screamed at her to find another person, or people. It made her think that she might find some safe harbor in numbers. However, rationally, she knew that their numbers mattered little, if at all.

For one day she traveled what she assumed was east. Every hour or so, she was forced to rest so Kathy did not make very much progress. She always listened for the clicks, and chattering. However, it no longer seemed to haunt her every step. In the night, she found the deepest darkest areas of underbrush to hide. She was hungry beyond anything, but allowed herself only sips of water and rest. So far she had not been fortunate enough to stumble across anything edible by her standards or safe.

Kathy hardly slept. It was too easy to see the faceless masks of the creatures staring back at her when she closed her eyes. Too cold, hungry, and lost to enjoy what little comfort a patch of hard ground provided.

The next morning, she found a rock that was flattened on one side, and after a few hours in vain trying to sharpen it, she threw it at a tree in frustration. Her eyes welled with tears at her uselessness. She couldn't even make suitable tools for basic needs. Every time she had to stop and relieve herself she was worried the creatures would pop out of nowhere. It made it hard to do anything, but she trudged on. The soles of her feet were blistered and her gray sneakers were worn. Some of the native vegetation had created holes in the canvas fabric. Her clothing had become torn in places as well. She had no ability or time to fix the tattered remains of her garb.

Sometimes, she imagined she heard screams in the distance, but they had grown fewer and farther between. They always were too far away for her to do anything, and after Susan, Kathy did not dare rush to the rescue. She had tried to yank the damn necklace off of her neck, but the result had been a very unpleasant jolt to her nervous system. She cursed the day this all happened and every single moment after that. She cursed the alien species that forced this on them, and she constantly wondered to what end this purpose served.

Whitmore had been wrong. They were _hunting_ the women, Kathy included. She just didn't know why.

The sun was setting into the afternoon, and Kathy still marveled at the multiple moons that coyly peeked over the horizon. She had been walking for two days now with only rest and water. Her pants slipped constantly, and she tried in vain to adjust them. Her shirt hung off her shoulders slightly, and she tried very hard not to notice her growing stench. Bathing in water, did not remove the lingering foul smell of strong body odor.

She turned her thoughts back towards the heavens. It made her feel very small and unimportant when faced with such beauty and such danger juxtaposed by this precarious situation. She also had not found any wild life at all. Nothing. Not even this planets version of bugs. Inside she was thankful, but also extremely uneasy that only plants thrived on this world.

Her nose caught the scent that only a starving human ever notices. Kathy blinked owlishly at what appeared to be three apples clustered near the base of a tree. She was tempted to go right for it, but it was too appropriately placed and much too good to be true.

It was a trap. With a heavy sigh, she skirted past the food. She eyed the delicate red skin of the apple with eyes intent on devouring. She licked her lips and imagined biting into the crisp flesh, feeling the sweet juice filling her mouth, sliding her tongue over-

The growl was her only warning. Kathy turned, gasp caught in her throat. The predatory alien, the one from that first night, she had taken notice of the skull on his armor with the chipped eye socket which had been tracking her was watching her. Its head was tilted as it watched her. Kathy blinked slowly, unsure if she had it in her to run much more.

"_Dhi'rauta lou-dte kale_." It rumbled at her.

Kathy felt the rumble from where she was. Its voice had a deep resonating quality, and she did not know how to respond. Was it trying to reason with her?

Unsure if it was a good idea, but unable to think of what else to do, she repeated what she had done when Susan was taken.

Kathy started to mimic their clicking sound as well as she could, while taking a step back. IF it started to roar she was out of here.

It straightened its head and regarded her for some moments. Kathy did not know if silence was a good or a bad thing. She was still greatly frightened, but running out of options. She could potentially walk this whole planet and never see another soul except for these _Things._ Its appearance had the gears in her head turning that it had shown up just as she was passing up the fruit. It had been waiting for her. That put her on guard.

Not even the wind dared to move between them. Kathy lowered her eyes, her mind raced on what to do next, or what she should say if anything at a time like this. The thought to run was never far from her thoughts.

It rumbled at her again, that strange noise that seemed akin to purring only somehow far more dangerous. As if she was comparing a housecat to a Mountain lion.

"_This is mine_," it said in a woman's voice. One Kathy did not recognize.

She looked at the fruit and back at the Alien. A sense of surrealism washed over her. Was it truly trying to communicate with her? The others had not even tried. Speaking of others, Kathy glanced around for the tell-tale shimmers but saw nothing.

It almost seemed as if this one was alone.

"Yes," She stated slowly, "the fruit is yours. I was not going to take it." She left off the '_Because it's a trap,'_

The Alien pointed at her. "_You_," it said in a man's voice. It seemed menacing, and she had the sickening feeling whoever if copied the voice from was no longer breathing.

She couldn't help it; she let out a bubble of hysterical laughter. It could not be serious.

It growled at her response causing the hair on the back of her neck to stand on end. Its facemask betrayed nothing as it continued to point at her, but raised its arm slightly higher. The tentacles puffed up a bit, as if it was not at all pleased by her laughter.

Kathy's throat went dry as her knees started to quiver underneath her.

This one it seemed was perfectly serious and she had nowhere to run.

OoOoOo

**Translations:**

Dhi'rauta lou-dte kale: Cunning Female

Ka'Torag-na?: Lurking? (implied Are you for purposes of this story)


	5. Chapter 5

**You are all awesome! Thank you very much for reviewing. I hope everyone had a good weekend or a great Mother's day. **

**I own nothing. Rated M. May be a sensitive topic for some. Reader beware.**

OoOoOo

She'd had seen her fair share of movies where the hero, or heroine, had suddenly faced down the extraterrestrial being in a match of wits and brute strength. Normally, as is Hollywood's style, the main character would win and save the day. She was very cognizant of the fact that this was not a Hollywood movie, and she suddenly was not in the one percent of people that might actually stand a chance against a giant like this.

'_However_', she reminded herself primly, '_it wasn't going to come after her with weapons. So that is something._'

It was still watching her and Kathy looked down at the ground quickly. There were no stray rocks this time, nor limbs of trees, or even twigs she could grab and… do something with. It occurred to her that she wasn't even certain what she could or would do with a weapon if she had one. It was, all and all, not a very practical place to be. Her eyes darted back up to the giant with armor that glinted in the sun. Had she not been memorized by the skulls on its armor, or for that matter of fact the number of skulls on its armor, Kathy might have noticed that its growling had changed to a softer rumbling.

Her gaze wandered over its tentacles, which still seemed as strange now as it had the first time she'd glimpsed them. It had the same adornments, as far as she could tell, as the others wrapped around those inky black tentacles. Every inch of its thickly muscled frame screamed to her that whatever it was, it truly was a predator. Her eyes flicked up to the strange symbol on the forehead of its mask. Kathy had no idea what it meant. For all she knew it was the creatures name. It was not out of the realm of possibility that they might label their belongings.

It was then that Kathy noticed the creature hadn't moved at all during her examination of him. Her eyes locked with the visor on the mask, and it growled at her. Kathy could not help but look away again. The rumbling occurred once more. It appeared to be waiting. She simply did not know for what.

"_Come here_," it said in a deep timber. She could not place the accent of the speaker. Kathy blinked.

Her indecision weighed on her, but she was aware that getting closer to that _thing_ was the last thing she wanted to do. She could still vividly picture what happened to Susan in her mind. Out of reflex, or perhaps instinct, she began to back up slowly.

Her foot moved behind the other, slowly shifting her weight.

"_No,"_ the Alien said quite clearly in a different man's voice. Kathy stilled instantly, her eyes wide and breathing quickened.

Why was she even listening to this creature? She shivered and blinked at it. Her gaze whipped around looking for a possible escape. However, she had not noticed as she did now, that she'd walked into a narrowed area with rock on three sides. She would not be able to scramble up the steep incline littered with boulders, nor could she rock climb up the sheer face of the other. The only way out that she knew for certain, was to go back the way she came, but eight feet of huge and armored blocked her path.

For a brief instant, she thought about running and sliding between the creatures legs, but that wasn't really probable if even possible. They had reflexes faster than a humans, she had seen that. Her face still boasted the bruise from her last encounter with them.

It was almost as if the creature knew what she was thinking, and she prayed they weren't telepathic. She could feel it watching her as she craned her neck to look behind her. There was a dark almost-cave. It wasn't very deep and she could see the end of it, but it appeared dark enough that it should not be able to see her. It was not very large either, but if she could just get a head start.

Her stomach rumbled, hungry briefly jabbing in-between the ever constant worry and fear.

The Alien rumbled back at her. Kathy blushed, even though the situation was strange, in embarrassment.

"_Eat_," It commanded her. Commanded her in an imperious tone that left her a tad indignant, and that naturally a little resistant to following that order. She watched it gesture towards the apples lying innocently on the ground.

They were likely poisoned, she assumed at least. Why else would it be so intent on her to eat them? However, it had expressed an interest in claiming her. '_It probably means my skull,'_ she thought slightly hysterical. She could almost envision a human skull hanging on its wall, or her teeth being made into a necklace for some female Alien. What if they were hunting them for servants or slaves? Kathy mentally shook herself. Now was not the time to fall apart, but it was certainly tempting. She moved one more step back silently.

The giant growled at her, and clicked. But the clicking seemed agitated almost. Kathy whirled around legs already pushing her forward as she ran to the shadowed area behind her. The hair on the back of her neck stood up as she touched the rock wall with one hand. It was dark, but not absolutely. She trailed her hand along the wall, slowing her footsteps down as she neared the back. It had been maybe forty feet in. Kathy turned and noticed that the Alien had cocked its head to the side again.

"_What are you doing?_" It asked her in a child's voice.

Kathy glared at it in reflex, her anger mounted. If it had harmed a _child_, it truly was a monster and not a sentient species. She stared at it in ineffectual fury.

"_I wouldn't do that,"_ it warned her with a lifting Scottish accent. Or it could have been Irish. Kathy wasn't terribly concerned with recognizing the accents of people that were likely dead by now anyway. Those poor souls had probably ended up in some deranged alien pot roast recipe; like she was going to be. Well, she hoped sincerely that she gave the creature terrible heartburn or the Alien equivalent of gout.

It stalked toward her, and Kathy remained absolutely still. She even held her breath, waiting for the giant to venture further into the shadowed area. She only needed it to turn its back to her and then she'd run like hell out of here. She waited there in the shadows praying for a miracle, or the endurance of a conditioned athlete. She was well aware that neither of those things was going to happen. If she could push herself enough, perhaps she could make it to another area with water or larger bushes.

It drew closer and closer. She could not hear its footsteps on the stone. If she were not staring directly at it, she would have sworn it wasn't even there. Her lips parted, eye wide, as she marveled at just how deadly this creature would be to fight. She'd love to have her .40 cal back in her hand, but honestly she thought it would just make the damn thing mad if she shot at it. There was no telling what that armor was made of, and she highly doubted anything man-made would harm the behemoth.

It was directly in front of her, and Kathy let out an involuntary gasp. Large arms settled on either side of her, its massive hand and looming large frame surrounding her as she pressed her back into the stone.

'_Oh crap_,' she thought belatedly, '_they can see in the dark._' And, she'd been as kind as to back herself further into a corner, almost literally. Several expletives came to mind as the masked face; its visor gleaming wickedly in the low light neared her.

"_Mine_," It rasped in a strange, almost non-human voice.

Her stomach dropped to the soles of her feet. Kathy defensively flattened her hands against its armor. Her instinct screamed at her to push the thing away and flee. Her hands felt the oddly cold metal. She could feel the heat radiating off its large form, and swallowed as she closed her eyes tightly. She gathered her strength, and shoved as hard as she could.

It did not budge. Not so much as one inch.

Her eyes snapped open and she blinked at it. "Oh, fuck me," She whispered out loud in startled reaction.

"_Eventually_," it replied in a southern accent. Male. Most of its responses were male. Kathy was dimly aware that it could understand her, and it thought that they…were…going…to…

Kathy removed her hands from its chest as it emitted that strange chuffing sound that sounded like laughter. The damn thing was laughing at her. Several caustic replies were on the tip of her tongue, ready to be wielded as weapons against a thing she could never even hope to fight. One of the Tentacles nearly touched her as it leaned in closer to press against her. Kathy whimpered in fear, and started to struggle. It reached one large hand over to touch her crystal tag.

She'd never know what made her do it, but as she saw that hand moving forward to touch her blank crystal tag, Kathy did what any human might. Or at least, what any two-year old might. She snapped forward and bit the unprotected underside of its hand.

For a heartbeat they stared at each other as her teeth had sunk into its flesh. She mentally blocked out what this might taste like, or what the texture of its flesh was. Her action was meant to hurt, to cause some sort of pain to get it to back away.

It hissed at her. The other hand enclosed around her tag. Kathy felt a wave of defeat wash over her as the strange light shimmered down its arm and into the crystal. Still, she did not let go of its hand. Her own growl of anger worked its way out of her throat.

She could tell it was angered, both by her actions and her growling at it. For a spilt second her eyes widened and she registered that this had not been a good idea. The thought struck her one millisecond before the thing lurched its hand back. Kathy had tightened her jaw down in reflex and when it pulled back Kathy's teeth, followed by the rest of her, went with the motion. She let go, as she tumbled down. It was all the opening the terrified human needed. With the threat of possibly mating with the creature, she hit the ground with her knees and the next instant she was up and running.

The roar resonated with deeper force as it was amplified by the enclosure as she made a desperate attempt to run from it. She could hear it chattering behind her, the sound was much more menacing this time. The trees clawed at her skin and hair as she ran. She had no idea in what direction she was running, or what she was going to do if she did not get away. She failed to notice where she was going. One misplaced step was all it took for her to go sliding down a hill. The sky and the ground changed places over and over as she careened out of control.

She landed in a heap at the bottom. A fiery pain shot through her wrist. Kathy closed her eyes and tried not to cry. She was frightened and as she dared to look at her left wrist, it was swollen and she couldn't feel much of her hand. She was injured and there was nothing she could do about it. Her head whipped around to search for the Alien. She did not see him, but that did not count for much.

All around her was eerily silent once more. She held her injured limb close to her chest, and pushed off the ground with the other. She was covered with strange leaves, and only God knew what else. She tried not to think about it as she moved quietly now through the terrain. The warmth of blood trickled down the side of her face. Kathy gingerly reached up to touch it. Her hand trembled and she winced at the tenderness around the wound.

She needed to get some place safe and clean herself up.

She busied herself with looking around for dangers. Her heart still drummed quickly in her chest. She longed to go home. She didn't care at this point if they dropped her off in the middle of the Mojave Desert. Kathy just wanted to be on Earth again.

Where the other women safe? Had they met similar or worse fates than hers? How many of them could even be left? Had they all survived? Did the creatures want wives? Mating? Children? Kathy did not know but her mind puzzled over what had happened until her head hurt along with the rest of her body. The ships, the freaking space ships that had been leaving since the first night hardly ever appeared in the sky anymore and she was certain that there could not have been many of them left. Or they were becoming harder to catch. The number of creatures after them, however, never seemed to be dwindling. What was this? Some sort of fucked-up mess. That is what this was.

Kathy wiped at the tears leaking from her eyes. There was hardly anything else she could do. Her steps were slow, she was injured with no way of even giving herself basic medical attention, and that thing was out there somewhere convinced that she belonged to it.

Or him. Judging by the codpiece, she had the sinking feeling it was a 'him'.

She stumbled by a small stream. It barely even babbled, but she cupped her good hand to gather the water. She cleaned away what she could. Her knees hit the dirt, and she groaned at the action. The fact was she just smeared the dirt around while trying to clean herself, but it felt as if she was doing _something_ and that helped her greatly. Kathy opened her mouth and lowered herself to drink some water.

She longed for a change of clothes, a bath, and a hot meal. When she was in a more positive frame of mind she pretended she was a mountaineer lost in a mountain range and help would be coming soon. It wasn't and she knew that. Wiping her mouth off and trying to ignore the gritty feeling of dirt scrubbing across her skin Kathy stood.

The clicking caused her blood to freeze in her veins. Had it found her again? So soon?

A glimmer in the trees caught her attention. Kathy made the mistake of staring straight at it. Her skin prickled in keen awareness and she was only able to take three steps in the opposite direction. Her will to fight for her life spiked as the full weight of the creature slammed into her. Kathy went crashing to the ground. The breath was knocked out of her as the creature growled at her threateningly.

Kathy screamed, and kicked at it as best as she could. It flipped her as if she was a rag doll. She stared at the thing. It was not the one that had touched her tag. The armor was different, and it was another color. The Alien stared at the symbol there angrily. A brief period of silence greeted her ears, followed by a low hiss, and then it roared in her face.

"_Pauk!"_ If snarled at her. Kathy had the feeling that '_Pauk_' was not '_pleased to meet you_.'

One large hand removed its mask and she could not process what she was seeing. Kathy looked at its face in horror. The damn things had mandibles! All the alien encounter/conspiracy theories she'd been subjected to by what she had called paranoid people had always described them as either little gray men or lizard men. This was _nothing_ like that.

She screeched in true fear. Her injured limb and pain were forgotten as she punched at the thing in pure reflex. It flared the grotesque mandibles open and hissed at her. Her blows did nothing except to cause its back to arch and mandibles to flare. She thought it might kill her, but it chose instead to grip her necklace in its hand and shake it at her screaming gutturally in a language she couldn't comprehend.

It only served to terrify her more. She whimpered and screamed. It released her, and Kathy had the vague sense that it was disgusted. Either with her or itself she could not tell. She had the irrational thought that it was angry with her for her tag being marked. As if she had any control over it. She laid there for a moment, trying to fight down her terror enough to move. It stared at her, growling and making aggressive gestures.

Kathy waited, with eyes averted as it growled and hissed itself into silence. She used her uninjured limb to help her scoot away from it. The predatory giant roared at her again. She shook with fear, and stilled once more. They repeated this strange exchange for almost half an hour. She felt nearly helpless at the situation. That thing was horrible. Those sharpened teeth on its mandibles, and the strange grouping of muscles. She nearly vomited, but there was nothing in her to give up to the wave of sickness.

She looked around desperately, her breathing coming out in terrified puffs of air. She dared not even risk glancing at the angry giant. She chose instead to look anywhere but him. The shimmer in the trees alerted her to another one of those things. She contemplated just giving up and dying. Right here. She'd had a decent run. It had been longer than poor Susan and who knows how many other women in her shoes.

It uncloaked, Kathy could nearly feel the waves of fury pouring off of it. She felt relief that it wasn't going to leave her to big, tell, and furious.

It was the one that marked her tag. Kathy risked the wrath of the angry Alien and pushed up and onto her knees. It roared at her, but Kathy only had eyes for the creature from before. Flinching, she got to her feet unsteadily. The other Alien started near her. Kathy stumbled toward the only chance she had of survival.

It roared back, equally as fierce, but its face was turned toward the one walking menacingly after her. Kathy barely paid attention to the angry growling and hissing filling the air. She limped toward what she could only assume was safer harbor. The alien failed to acknowledge her as she moved next to and then behind him. She pressed herself against its back. The creature growled angrily, their strange words filled the air and she knew they were arguing. She understood it was probably about her. What else could it have been about? The weather?

Her Alien roared something and the other finally seemed satisfied. She let her forehead rest against it as she gathered her breath. Kathy attempted to quell her shaking

"_Don't run_," it said in a man's voice again when they were finally alone.

"I won't." she murmured tiredly.

"_Did it,_" the voice started, "_hurt_," a woman's voice, "_you?_"

"No," she answered quietly. It hadn't really hurt her, just frightened her. It had, however, likely scarred her psychologically for years to come.

It turned, and that caused Kathy to back up. She was so exhausted she could hardly stand. The creature grabbed her uninjured arm firmly, but gently. It clicked at her and rumbled as it looked her over. She allowed it without protest. It moved her head from side to side, continuing its appraisal of her. When it finished, it seemed satisfied or at the very least not upset by her condition. She kept her head lowered, not wanting to move more than needed.

"_Ooman_," it rasped at her in that non-human voice again. "_Pyode ooman_." It stroked her arm for a moment. "_Kha'bj-te ooman."_

The world around Kathy grew darker, as her body finally able to stop secreting adrenaline began to shut down to preserve what little and precious energy it had left. Her hand reached out to steady her. It landed on one of its tentacles. The contrast between her skin and it's substitute for hair would have been intriguing if she could focus. The creature growled at her warningly. Kathy's hand slowly slipped down it, not even attempting to grasp it. It purred at her.

"Catch me," she requested as she slipped into unconsciousness.

OoOoOo

**Translations:**

Ooman: Human

Pyode ooman: Soft human

Kha'bj-te ooman: manic/reckless human (for this story I am using reckless and not manic)

Pauk: Expletive


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey all thanks so much for your time and reviews! I hope this story builds into something worth remembering. **

**No updates tomorrow. SO here is this in place. **

**I own nothing. Rated M. May be a sensitive topic for some. Reader beware.**

OoOoOo

She woke to some place dark, quiet, and warm. For a brief moment, Kathy thought she might be dead, however, none of her injuries had seemed life-threatening. She looked at her wrist, her memory jogged over the events that had so recently occurred. It was no longer swollen, and it did not hurt. She flexed her wrist and found that it functioned perfectly. She also noticed that the constant border around her vision of her glasses was gone. They were gone and she could see perfectly. She was also clean. Gone were the traces of blood, dirt, and that planet.

What was going on? Kathy started to move more, suddenly alert. She was in some sort of strange space-alien room. She sat up, starting all around her. The room was completely bear with the exception on her bed, tucked in the corner of the room.

'_Oh no_,' she thought worriedly, '_this is where the anal probe or breeding part comes_.' She rushed to what appeared to be the door, her fingers traced the separation between the door and the wall. Perhaps she could push it open? Her nails slipped in between the crack and she tried to wedge her fingers in. She only managed to make a small scraping sound.

She tired hitting the door ineffectually. Growing agitation and fear mounting, Kathy began to pace in the small space. She needed to get out of here. Then it occurred to her, even if she got out of here, then what? Where would she go? The nearest air lock seemed about the only option. Or would she run back into the tentacle predator creatures? Kathy scratched at her arm absently, thoughts trailing off.

She also noted, slightly disheartened, that the room had noting she could even use as a distraction. The mattress, if it could be called that, was all one piece and there was nothing to throw at someone to run out of the door. Kathy looked up at the dim lights. They were like nothing she'd ever seen before. Unknown symbols, like the one that had been on her tag glowed brightly above the door.

Her tag…

Kathy looked down, and it was still there, but it too had been cleaned off. Whatever was going on here, she was not sure that she liked it. Rest did many wonderful things for a body, but Kathy examined herself with some apprehension. She wasn't certain what Alien implant devices looked like, but she did not find anything unusual on her. Her form was much lighter. She'd lost a good ten to fifteen pounds out there those four days running for her life. Were she not concerned over her fate, she would have been happy to be on the lithe side, but it seemed a tad too vain for the situation.

With a sigh, she realized she had been caught just like Susan and the others. The thought brightened her up. Perhaps they were here somewhere? Like a catch and release program? Only, that could not be correct, because as she stared at the Alien symbol hanging innocuously around her neck she remembered it had called her 'Mine'. That could mean she was a pet of some sort? Or a trophy maybe? No, it appeared that the skull were their trophies. She shuddered, recalling the various skulls that adorned each of the gruesome aliens she'd encountered. Her stomach rebelled at remembering their faces.

Fucking mandibles!

The door chirped at her, and Kathy started at it as if it was going to eat her. It slid open quickly the sudden intrusion of light causing her to wince, and there was another one of those _things_ looking at her. It said nothing and she did not move. She instead chose to watch quietly. It bent low and shoved a tray at her. She'd been so preoccupied wondering her fate she had neglected to even notice the food. Kathy looked down, it was human food. It was laden with various types of fruit and a salad of some sort. There was meat there too. Her jaw clenched and she prayed it wasn't human. She would not eat another human.

By the time she looked back up, the creature had shut the door, encasing her back in the darkness.

"Oh goody! Feeding time!" Kathy looked up sharply to the sound of another woman.

"Hello?" She called out, scarcely able to hope that she wasn't locked away in this little cell for forever.

A moment of silence greeted her.

"Who is there? I've never heard you before." The voice sounded suspicious, bordering on aggressive.

Relief roared to life inside her. "Kathy, my name is Kathy."

"Never heard of you," The voice called back, she was chewing something. Likely the food they'd brought.

"I'm so glad to hear you," she replied undeterred. "I thought…" she trailed off a moment then shook away the darker thoughts, "are there any others?"

A snort. A chocking sound of amusement, greeted her. "You could say that darlin'."

Kathy's brow puckered in confusion. What was that supposed to mean. And, she looked at the food which was so tantalizingly close. If the other woman was eating, then it must have been safe. Quickly, she snagged a piece of fruit and devoured it as it she hadn't eaten in weeks.

"What?" She replied after she'd had the chance to barely swallow.

"There are others," the voice replied now annoyed, "shit." The woman muttered angrily. Kathy looked up to see a slight gap in between the ceiling and the wall that she hadn't noticed before. There was no way to get to it. She would not be able to see the other woman. Distracted, she snatched up another piece of fruit. Greedily, she sucked the juice out of an orange. It was pure delightful heaven. Too sweet, but she craved more. Everything tasted almost too strong, but hunger demanded she satisfy the craving for sustenance.

"What's going on?"

"How the hell would _I _know?" The waspish reply whipped across Kathy's already frayed nerves.

"You said there were others?"

"Yes.. 'were' being the operative word in that sentence."

She felt chilled to the bone. Her sudden hunger disappearing as quickly as it had come. "Are they dead?" She asked quietly.

The voice refused to answer her. Noisy eating, overzealous munching, was the only sound for several heartbeats.

"Not that we know of," a different woman replied with a heavy Indian accent. "So far they have only been mapping us."

"What?" Kathy replied confused. "Who are you?"

"Forgive me," the woman responded quickly, "English is my fourth language. I am Nirmala. My last name is hard for many to pronounce. I am… how you say… scientist."

"A scientist?" That also spoke four languages. If Kathy hadn't felt inadequate before, she certainly did next to Ms. Nirmala. So she'd been correct before. They wanted the geniuses too.

"Yes, yes. I make the science." The woman replied excitedly. "You have been... what is word?"

"Asleep," the first woman called irritated.

"Exactly so. Asleep for some time."

"How long?" Kathy asked with growing dread.

"Many days."

"I have?" She hadn't felt as if she had been out very long. However, it had never happened before, so who was to say how much time had actually passed.

"Yes, cupcake, you have. Are you going to keep asking a bunch of stupid questions?"

Kathy glared at the side of the obnoxious woman, before reminding herself they were all likely scared and people dealt with that in different ways,.

"They were… excited, yes, excited for you." Nirmala continued to inform her.

Kathy stared ahead unsure as to why she'd be exciting at all.

"One of the last captured. Watcher said."

"Watcher?"

"It's what she calls the bastard that captured her. They come down from time to time to check on us. Yours should be down any minute. You want my guess?" She asked rhetorically before belching loudly, and Kathy almost laughed at how ill-mannered the woman was. "They're taking us back to their home world."

Home world? Kathy had never even thought that far. She'd more or less assumed they got their kicks forcing defenseless species into giving over their women for 'entertainment'. Kathy whimpered and drew her legs to her chest. She pushed the food tray away from her.

"Fuckers got everyone else," The rude woman snarled. "And we are never going home cupcake, so if you are going to start that crying shit you may as well get it over with now."

No, she knew that they would never make it home.

"True," Nirmala said quietly, "no home to return to."

Kathy blinked in the darkness. Nirmala's worlds echoing through her heart and mind like a shout.

"What?" She barely breathed the question.

"You did not know?" Nirmala asked gently. Silence stretched between them as the woman fought for composure. "Earth is… what is word?"

"Destroyed." The other woman snarled with a bitter laugh. "Fuckin' _gone_."

"No," Kathy denied vehemently.

"Remember what the rules were precious? Don't resist. Well someone just had to go and resist. I mean is it really surprising? Did they just expect humans to hand over millions of women? Well apparently they weren't kidding."

"That can't be-"

"We saw it," Nirmala enforced quietly. "Ours was last to leave. Earth. Life. All gone."

Oh God. Kathy could not comprehend what they were telling her. "That's not possible." No, this had to be a dream. She was injured and Big Mandibles was yelling at her. She must have blacked out. This was the sort of dream people effected by PTSD had. Wasn't it?

She was on her hands and knees vomiting the meager amount she'd consumed before she knew what was happening. She'd expected the rude woman to taunt her, but neither said anything. Kathy wretched until there was nothing less, her face splotched and eyes watering. She heaved and bit back sobs.

That was how the giant found her, when the door chirped and suddenly opened. She wiped the back of her hand over her mouth. She refused to look at it. It clicked at her, and made a gesture. Something trilled on the side of the door. It stepped in to reach for her.

"Hey!" The rude woman shouted again. "Hey fucker! Leave her alone!" Kathy could hear the woman pounding at their shared wall. It sounded like she was throwing herself against it. "When I get in there, I'll tear your scaly ass apart!"

The Alien stopped and chuffed at the threats. Kathy looked up just enough, her vision swimming before her eyes. Her world was gone. Billions of people were all gone. Everyone. Everything. All gone. How did the human psyche handle that information?

The giant tapped something on its wrist, and chittered into the device.

"Stop. You must calm," Nirmala interjected quickly. "You will only make it to the upset."

"Not how that sentence goes Nirmala!" The rude woman snarled back.

The alien reached for her, and Kathy shrank back from its touch. It rumbled at her, perhaps trying to comfort her. That was never going to happen. They'd killed everyone. Her world was reduced to nothing. She cried out as it grabbed her. The women on either side of her quieted as Kathy began to scream. She screamed even though the thing holding her growled. It roared at her after a few moments, but she simply couldn't stop screaming.

Agitated clicking resounded all around her as another one of those things came into view. More chirping, drowned out with her screams. Kathy was hysterical. The walls were closing in, and there was no escape from here.

Nirmala, she assumed, came rushing into the room. The woman was beautiful with inky black hair falling in soft waved around her face. She cautiously approached the one that had marked Kathy's tag.

"Please to put her down," the woman asked gently. The Alien chittered back with the one standing outside of the room.

Slowly, it lowered a wailing Kathy to the floor. Nirmala went to her side quickly and gathered Kathy close, stroking her hair and murmuring in her native tongue. Gradually, the screaming subsided and Kathy was reduced to soft whimpers. She clutched to Nirmala as if she were a life line burying her face in the other woman's shoulder as sobs racked her body.

The two giants clicked at each other.

"Talk to me," The woman from the other side demanded.

"She is better now," Nirmala replied stroking Kathy's hair. She rocked them both and softly hummed a lullaby Kathy had no way of recognizing.

Predatory eyes watched them, and Kathy was loath to let Nirmala go. However, soon she was grabbed up and yanked out of the room. It was the one that had more or less captured her.

"_Sick?"_ Its non-human voice asked curiously.

"I hate you." Kathy said recklessly.

"_Not sick. Angry."_ He confirmed before turning to the other giant and clicking. Nirmala was taken back to her cell. They were in a prison, and this was as close to hell as Kathy had ever been. The creature holding her yanked her along down a narrow hallway. Kathy felt nauseas as she saw row after row of the same sort of rooms that held her and the other women.

"Earth is gone," she murmured. Dazed.

The creature halted, "Y'_ess_."

Kathy looked at it in baffled anger. "You destroyed everything."

"_Not me_," a male's voice played and the Alien clicked at her with a low rumbling sound.

"You killed… everyone."

"_No._" It replied half-hissing at her with a meaningful twitch of its head.

She gave a bitter laugh. "Everyone except the millions of women you took?"

The Alien puffed up angrily. "_No honor when pact is betrayed. Oomans agreed. Then they fought. No honor."_

"You thought they would just hand us over?" She queried with true surprise.

"_Oomans agreed._"

"What could you possibly even want us for?"

"_Breed._" A British voice played out. "_Need to breed_."

"What? You have no females?"

"_We do."_ The alien warbled at her disdainfully.

"Are they all suddenly infertile?"

"_No."_

"Are they sick?"

"_No,"_ it growled out.

"Then what the hell could have caused you to do this?!" She screamed angrily, willing to die because what was left to survive for? Her world was gone. She'd never see the one friend she'd made among the chosen women ever again. "You have technology beyond our wildest dreams. How could we possibly be of use to you?"

"_It is not that we cannot breed. We breed too much_," He replied slicing many voices together.

Kathy stared at it for a moment.

"Inbreeding? Your people suffer from inbreeding."

"_Y'ess_." He confirmed with his visor drawing closer to her. "_Need ooman females. Need code_._ Make pups strong again._"

Code? She puzzled it over. DNA. He had to be talking about DNA. Kathy nearly wept in grief. "You could have used males for that too. If all you needed was DNA. They have trillions of sperm just loaded with it. You didn't have to kill my people. It doesn't make any sense."

And, it did not. Men could have more readily supplied the source of code they needed. What? Did female Aliens not want to be men?

It could sense her frustration and did that strange purr near her. It stroked her arm again, touching her with its strange skin. Kathy flinched away. It growled at her rejection of its touch.

"_Female code meant to __**receive**__. Best chance. Males built to give. Code doesn't work…too strong. Female code is better. Can be manipulated. Override bad. Oomans diverse."_

Override bad? Kathy tried to understand what the creature was saying. What could that mean? Did he mean deformities? Did he mean behavioral problems or were these "pups" not carrying to term?

"You kill my species, but want us to save yours?" Her voice shook even as the question was etched in her very being.

The Alien cocked its head to the side and studied her. "_Yautja will prevail. Yautja will hunt."_

"_E-wat-ya_?" She asked softly. That must be their race. "No," she said tiredly, "no. You are just a bunch of predators. Killers. Murderers."

He didn't appear to like her response for he puffed up like an angry cat, but Kathy looked away. She refused to even acknowledge him. She was trying to process all that had happened and some part of her couldn't believe that out of all the things potentially in the galaxy, Humans had the misfortune of being the thing they needed most.

"_Combine your code with mine. Be safe. You safe."_

No, she truly wasn't. "I'd rather die," she said honestly.

It roared at her. "_No choice_." Roughly he grabbed her up again and carried her toward a set of large doors. Kathy didn't even bother trying to fight. What would be the point? She refused to help him. If that _thing_ thought she'd mate with _him_. She'd kill herself first.

There were other Predators in the large room he took her to. It was filled to the brim with strange devices Kathy could not even begin to comprehend. She shook when he set her down and chittered at more of his kind. She looked around the room worriedly. There were many sharp instruments, and if she was pressed into a corner, she might be able to do herself in.

Blue tubes filled with iridescent circles, caught her attention. They were lined inside of a large room, where she could see through the door. Strange markings were on all of them. Their language, she assumed. They were heavily guarded, judging by the eight or nine Predators standing with multiple weapons in front of the doors.

Kathy doubted whatever they planned would work. How could her womb even support something with a different DNA structure? It would kill them both. Her blood supply could not mix with theirs, was her guess. There was no way that it could. They would doom both races, and she felt an odd sense of satisfaction at that.

"_Lie down_." A taller one of the Predators demanded of her. Kathy bowed her head, to calm her nerves, but did not move. The Aliens growled at her angrily.

She said nothing as her captor placed her, gently, on the table with a rather frightening device looming above.

She turned her face away from him, from them all and stared at nothing. She willed herself out of her body, though inside she was wondering how much they would torture her. Were they going to alter her DNA? Was that even possible? From what the Predator had said, yes it was. Dear God in heaven let her die already.

A strange noise caused her to flinch. A tiny bit of pressure on her stomach, but she still refused to look at them. She tried to calm her breathing.

"_We go now_." The predator said commandingly. Kathy almost blinked in surprise. "_Code extracted. Sample given._"

What the hell? If it had been that damn easy why did they even need-?

Kathy gasped, horror filling every inch of her. In a vessel, marked with their symbols and her Predator watching it as well, was…

No…

"My eggs?" She murmured petrified. There were so many of them, she could actually see them clustered with the naked eye.

"_Our pups."_ He corrected purring. "_Females will birth_."

Kathy eyed him in horror. "I'd never be able to carry-"

"_Yuatja females."_

"Surrogates?" Her legs gave out from under her and she collapsed to a sitting position on the floor. "What could you possibly want from us now? You have everything. You don't even need me anymore." She argued, dazed.

"_Not need,"_ he clicked aggressively. "_Want. Females mates now. Honor you for service. Take care of ooman."_ He all but purred at her possessively. His large hand pulling her up and too him as Kathy could only look on in dumbstruck horror.

He unclicked his mask and she felt his mandibles flutter in her hair. She shivered in revulsion, but was too out of it to move away. He rumbled and clicked at her in a way that only demonstrated affection.

All Kathy could feel, was numb.


	7. Chapter 7

**Thank you! Thank you! You are all awesome! Forgive me, but I had to give the Predator a name, so I made one up. I did not have to do the late shift tonight, hence the update. Thanks again!**

**Did you miss me? Don't worry; I'm actually not that vain. I know it's the story ;)**

**I own nothing. Rated M. May be a sensitive topic for some. Reader beware.**

OoOoOo

He had to carry her back to her cell. Kathy had shut down, that was the only way to even come close to the state of near catatonia she appeared to have sunk into. After seeing what they had the nerve to call her 'pups', her ability to process all that was going on around her had been overloaded. She looked, but saw nothing. She said nothing and voiced no protest when her predator had grabbed her hand to pull her forward.

Then he had noticed that she was failing to follow him. His disturbingly colored eyes watched her closely. He rumbled and cocked his head to the side. If he found it interesting that she hadn't melted down into hysterics again, he did not say so. They chittered around her, her Predator growling slightly at her unintentional non-compliance. Kathy did not even register that the world had turned upside-down. He lifted her easily, as if she were a small child, and placed her over his shoulder.

Thought, sound, action, and everything around her seemed so far away as if it no longer concerned her. Kathy's mind was etched with the image of her supposed future offspring. Her children would be monsters. Not even the correct species. She'd always foolishly assumed even she could not mess that part up. Now… what now? Was there even a 'now' where she had a place except as some bastardized mate to a huge Predator?

Mate? What did that even _mean_ to creatures that could slaughter her species and then turn around and want them to be willing to save them? Save them, there was no way to save humanity. Not anymore. There were no surplus human men wandering around space. Even if by some, God willing, miracle there were; would there ever be enough that humanity wouldn't fall into the same perils of inbreeding? Earth was gone. It was the only home she'd ever known. It was her _planet_. There was no way to simply get over that. Everything she'd ever believed true or known didn't matter anymore. Her family, friends, countrymen, and the continuation of her species in its true form were all gone now.

Humanity would exist only as some novelty genes inside of deadly monsters. Oh God. Her _children_. She would have children. More than would ever have been physically possible for a human. Longing and fear combined with the overwhelming human instinct to protect her offspring. She'd never be able to protect them now. She'd likely never even see them. What use would a human mother be to creatures like these? Could she ever even come to care about them or look upon them without blaming them or hating them for what had happened to humans? Could she ever do that? Kathy could not even begin to know. She was, after all, only human. The meaning of which would die with her and the other woman.

Bitter mourning sprang to life and blossomed in her chest. _'My children,_' she thought wistfully before reality came crashing down on her once more. She'd always imagined some adorable bundle of joy, soft and swaddled, waving a chubby fist when she thought about having kids. Now all her mind could provide was the horrified images of Sci-Fi novels. Aliens hatching out of eggs or clawing themselves out of the female's womb as Kathy looked on terrified.

Her mind felt nothing but revulsion at the thought of the Predators' offspring. It would have those sickening mandibles, and grotesque strange eyes. It would hunt and kill. It would be… her children would be deformed. Not pudgy, chunky, and adorable babies. They would be like the monsters of old legends she had found amusing, but never paid much attention to. Her line, her DNA, and everything that had spanned thousands of years of human pairings would be bred out into the genealogy of the Predators.

Her mind played in a torturous loop all the events leading her into this waking hell. She was not aware that the Predator had put her down. She sat, unmoving, on the bed where he had dumped her. Her head was bowed and eyes lowered, as she continued to look through but not see the things around her.

He rumbled a softer sort of purr, mandibles closed in regard as he watched her. Kathy did not respond. His large hand moved slowly, cautiously toward her as if he were concerned she might bite like the last time. When she failed to react negatively, the Predator stroked her cheek. Or, it was a close approximation. It would be more accurate to call it poking her in the cheek, but it rumbled in a pleased fashion. The Predator took the time to smooth her hair back behind her ear.

Kathy blinked slowly, remaining otherwise eerily still.

The Predator appeared satisfied with her appearance. It chuffed to itself thoughtfully. Hard, and challenging eyes staring at Kathy as if she were the most interesting of challenges.

"_I protect you_," it stated meaningfully in the odd deep timber Kathy had come to understand was its voice. "_Mine."_

It was waiting for something, but Kathy could not comprehend what. She continued to sit. Perhaps, her mind had strayed too far into itself to care anymore. Yet, she had not reached the point where oblivion was inevitable. It was, in fact, no longer an option. In her mind the thoughts of her people haunted. The remembrances of places, sounds, smells, and feelings echoed in the deepest recesses of her being.

Her gaze trailed up, eyes that saw nothing looked at him, but everything seemed to be underwater as she was too far away to truly hear anything.

"_Nrak'ytara_ _Deuub,"_ He purred at her proudly as he placed his massive hand on her shoulder. He shook it.

It snapped Kathy out of her trance. She blinked at him as if seeing him there for the first time. The Predator rumbled and withdrew his hand. He turned and left, closing the door behind him.

"They do it to you too?" The voice of the woman from before asked her resignedly when a few minutes had passed.

Kathy could only nod, dumbstruck.

"I guess that's a 'yes'. You in there Kathy?" The tone grew worried toward the end of the inflection.

Hours passed. The women tried to cajole her into speaking. Nirmala sang a song from her homeland, trying to coax Kathy into speaking. The silence from her cell frightened the other women; she suspected but could not force herself to talk. On the other side, the rude woman spoke to her, shouted at their captors, and told Nirmala about the one time she'd managed to square off against a moose. It was not an easy feat, and in fact she had been lucky to survive it.

In her cell, Kathy's eyes wandered. This could not be happening. It was too absurd to even believe that this could actually be occurring. Yet, it was. She pulled in a breath, and willed her body to move for the first time since that room where…

Where they had taken…

"Oh God," Kathy said out loud, only to wonder where the noise had come from. There was such a large disconnect going on inside of her that she half-feared she would not survive for much longer and be sane.

Silence.

"Oh dear God," Kathy said again with more feeling.

"Yeah," the other woman replied tiredly, "that was my reaction too. Honestly, Nirm and I thought you were dead."

"My name is Nirmala. Not this Nirm," The heavy Indian accent greeted her ears again. Even hours ago Kathy would have called it comforting to know that there were other women around. It provided nothing now. For nothing filled the gnawing sense of emptiness spreading throughout her body and causing her no small amount of internal anguish.

"Whatever," the first woman huffed dismissively, "Don't scare us like that. You could've said something. I'm Renata, by the way. You asked me before who I am. There you go Kiddo. Glad we get to meet this way. Lucky, _lucky_ us." She huffed out a breath. A banging filled the quiet space. "You hear that assholes? We are so damn lucky! You big bastard, you hear me? Huh? Hey _Fucker_! I'm talking to you."

"_Canadians_..." Nirmala said in exasperation, but only Kathy could hear her.

The women had run out of things to say. One stuck inside herself, one accepting because common sense said they were out of options, and one that chose to rage against the creatures.

The only sound was Renata pounding at the walls. Kathy listened to it as if it were her death knell. It was all over. '_Game over_,' she thought sardonically but the touch of heartbreak lingered. How many were there? Enough to pair with over 38 million women and one of them could easily take on ten or more human men. Kathy doubted that even if every single woman had been a peerless warrior, fighter, soldier, or athlete they could have fought off the Predators.

"E-wat-ya," Kathy muttered to herself. Dimly she recalled the sensation of his hand in her hair. Kathy shook with rage, fear, and despair. They didn't even need human women anymore. They _wanted_ them. Why? They were from completely different worlds, and incompatible in almost every way. Except, it would seem, combining genes. Even if they could, and the resulting offspring survived, wouldn't it be sterile? Or would it be mostly Predator? They had technology so advanced, that Kathy's head would spin at the mind-boggling things they could accomplish.

It had told her they needed human 'code'. Anger built inside her, with dark and twisting thoughts rising to the surface. She hoped they died out. She wanted them to die _slowly_ without any chance of survival. The galaxy would be better off without them. For the first time in her short-lived life, Kathy understood what it was to feel the emotion called hate. It was seething anger, impotent fury, and dark intent.

So much so, that it frightened her. Kathy pulled herself away from it as quickly as she could. IF she lost herself, then everything that was human about her; what humanity could have stood for would be forgotten.

A deep part of her resonated with the truth that she had to _preserve _what it meant to be human. Whatever fragments of culture, history, art, or society she remembered she had to burn into her brain and she could never forget it. Never.

Purpose thundered through her thoughts. She had a purpose worth living for now. It was akin to grasping at straws in the dark, but dammit she had those straws clutched tightly to her heart. She'd live through this. She had to. Millions might yet still live of her kind, but not for very long. At most they would live to be one hundred, but what was that compared to the rest of the universe?

She began to rock back and forth.

One's own morality was normally hard enough to bear, but to know that your mortality was that of your species caused her stomach to tighten painfully. Yes, some part of them would live on in the _Yaujta_, but they would only be hybrids whose bloodlines to humans would be diluted over time with more of the Predators breeding. It made her sick. It made her ashamed. It made her angry.

She was human, and she would never forget that.

Hours had passed and Kathy had in a sense calmed down. The chirping at the cell door alerted her and she looked up. It was not 'her' Predator, but the one that had previously brought her food. It had another tray in its hands that it slid toward her. It held a variety of cut and cleaned vegetables, some more fruit, and a cut of what looked like ham.

She ate everything except the meat. Her fingers picked at the vegetables and nervous energy thrummed through her body.

"You think they'll eat us?" Renata said in an almost bored tone after a few minutes into their meal.

"No," Kathy said.

"How can you be so sure?" The woman questioned lightly. "They could be trying to fatten us up and then eat us."

"Is this children's tale?" Nirmala queried from the other side. "I have heard of this."

Kathy shook her head ruefully, her lips threatening to grin even if only for a second in time. "They don't want to eat us," she repeated neutrally.

"Why not? We don't serve a purpose anymore. They took our damn eggs." The tone spoke volumes of the woman's disgust and feelings of helplessness.

It was strange, however, to hear the wonders of conception reduced to sounding as if someone had raided a grocery store.

"True," Nirmala said worriedly.

"They want to keep us as mates. To 'honor' us for our service," Kathy said sarcastically as she scratched at her arm. She hated this cell, and the dimness that seemed to go on forever.

"Mates? That is interesting," the scientist replied, and Kathy could practically feel her forming theories on the other side of the metal wall that separated them.

"Interesting? It's not fucking _interesting_! There is no way I am 'mating' one of those scaly damn bastards!" Renata shouted in indignant rage.

"It implies-"

"I don't care what it 'implies'!"

Kathy had thought a lot about the subject herself. It was no less repulsive than it had been, and frankly she wasn't even sure if their anatomy was compatible. The subject was not one she enjoyed lingering on. A wave of nausea rolled over her, she was getting better at keeping her stomach contents in when she pondered about what being that things 'mate' would mean for her future. She prayed that it would not involve its freaky tentacles. Unbidden an image came to her mind that caused her to shake her head vigorously.

"Ugh," she groaned to herself.

"Hang in there Kathy," Renata encouraged, her previous anger all but forgotten. "We are going to give them hell. It's about time."

Kathy turned her head inquisitively, her face projecting her confusion. The chirping of the door could be heard under Renata's words. She felt a growing sense of apprehension.

"Hey ugly," the woman cooed and Kathy's eyes widened at the growl that came from the other side of the wall.

"Wait," Kathy cautioned, "Renata-"

The sound of metal against metal resonated with sickening clarity between their walls. What was going on. "Renata!" Kathy called out afraid.

"Renata?" Nirmala questioned, equally frightened.

"Take that fucker!" The woman screamed. Kathy felt her heart was in her throat. The alien roared as the chirping continued.

The sound of feet, smaller than the Predators hitting the metal floor resounded like a shot to the two women who waited with baited breath. The sound was growing weaker and weaker. Kathy felt a burst of elation. Somehow, despite the odds being horribly stacked against her, Renata had gotten out.

Then it struck her that they were either in space or some alien planet. There was nowhere to go.

It was not long after that what Kathy could only describe as an alarm sounded. She stared at the door, as all she could hear was the footsteps of several of the creatures. Their chattering, clicking, and hissing filled every moment as Kathy crept closer to the door. She placed her ear against it gently, listening with as much concentration as a human possessed.

Two minutes ticked by in agonizing slowness.

Then three.

The sound of a woman screaming tore through the air, causing her to step away. Kathy put a hand to her mouth to stifle the building sob at the back of her throat. There came the sound of growling once more, and booted feet stepping on the floor. A soft thud and Kathy stared at the gap between ceiling and wall. Her eyes fixed, half-wide in terror.

Growling, and clicking resonated in Renata's cell.

Nirmala whimpered, and Kathy echoed the sound.

The ship lurched.

"What was that?"

"I don't know," Kathy replied looking around. Her hand splayed on the wall to keep her balance.

The lights snapped on overhead, Kathy gasped in surprise. Strange symbols above her door changed color, and she wondered at their meaning. She had little time to ponder however, as the chirping was heard. Kathy turned to see her Predator standing in the doorway. It rumbled at her, but appeared agitated in its stance. She thanked her lucky stars that he had his mask back on. She didn't think she could handle staring at his mandibles clicking again.

"_Come." _He commanded her, beckoning with his arm. She watched as the skulls moved with his motion. He still looked every inch as deadly as he had before. His armor shined in the artificial light. She closed her eyes against the glare. It was staring at her, expectant.

Kathy shook her head.

He growled at her. "_Home,"_ the Predator said firmly. "_You come __**now**__._"

Her throat went dry, as she stared at him aghast. It was almost too much to grasp. She would be always out of place because there was no place to return to. Would they be paraded about like animals in a zoo? Was she to be an attraction for the amusement of these aliens? The thought left a bitter taste in her mouth. At best, she might be kept sequestered away from the general populace and at worse, she'd be forced to watch them bear her monstrous children. Kathy quelled the urge to run because she had nowhere to go. It was a very scary thought and a frightening life she had before her.

They had arrived at their destination wherever it was; a place where his species ruled absolutely and hers was but a distant memory. He called it home. She called it hell.

It would never be home to her, but she walked toward him anyway.

OoOoOo

**Translations:**

Nrak'ytara: Guardian

Deuub: I took this from two names; I am defining it to mean "One Spear"


	8. Chapter 8

**I greatly appreciate the reviews and thoughts about the story. For those that have been consistently providing reviews, thank you very much. For those that have provided one or two, thank you very much. For those that have read, how do you like it?**

**I own nothing. Rated M. May be a sensitive topic for some. Reader beware.**

OoOoOo

It was a procession of the dammed in her mind. Kathy neared him, wanting to lash out and strike at him, but knowing it would do nothing except give her Renata's fate. She needed to survive. She did not even know if Renata was dead, but as she followed her captor out into the hallway she saw Nirmala, and many women she'd never seen before. Kathy hadn't heard them; she had thought they were the only three humans on board.

She was wrong. The thought filled her both with elation and deep sadness. How many had survived the planet? Had any died? They were questions she could not answer.

The women had varying looks of wear and tear. Some had their hands bound; others had obviously attempted to take their own lives. Kathy could see the scars on one woman's wrists. Fresh and pink, they were new. She closed her eyes and looked away. It was too painful to think about. She'd been ready to do the same before she'd thought about humanity dying with them.

Her eyes opened to lock on the back of her Predator as they waited for what she assumed was their turn. Each woman had a Predator in front of her, or behind her. They were slowly moving forward, it was a long procession toward the other end of what she assumed as a ship.

Human curiosity won out over better common sense, and Kathy crept forward slowly to see all that she could of the looming end of the hallway. Without her notice, she briefly touched the Predator, as she attempted to look closer. She had not noticed, but the Predator started its strange rumble again. Kathy allowed herself to look all around, trying to comprehend how advanced their species must have been to be able to build something like this.

She tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear nervously. Would he bind her hands too? She risked a glance up at him, he was watching her. She could feel it, the way the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. She had no way of knowing what he was thinking, and frankly she did not want to.

A large opening appeared at the end of the hallway that they shuffled down. It was massive, and it allowed her to catch the first glimpses of orange sky. Kathy stilled, staring at the strangeness in wonder. Renata had been right; they had taken them back to their home world. '_Or at the very least, another planet,_' she thought dazedly.

It was then that she noticed the rumbling. It was loud and long. Kathy looked around, startled that an earthquake might be happening. Except it wasn't Earth anymore was it? She was not the only one who glanced around nervously. Her gaze made contact with several others. The human instinct screamed '_danger'_. They started to cluster together, it was only natural given the situation.

The Predators on the ship started roaring. Kathy covered her ears, and so did the other women. She took the chance when she saw it, and moved toward Nirmala. The scientist looked as frightened by the turn of events as Kathy was. She nodded at her, and Nirmala gestured with her elbow toward Renata's cell. Kathy understood what she wanted.

She dropped her hands and darted back. Her Predator made an angry hissing sound. Kathy could feel her ears ringing from the deafening cascade of noise. She slipped passed the throng of women and Predators, weaving in between sets. She knew she was being followed, but it didn't matter, she was not trying to escape.

Kathy rounded the corner to Renata's cell, and she caught a glimpse of the predator's armor reaching for her. Her breathing was labored and her eyes scanned the room afraid. Nothing. There was nothing there. Not a trace of Renata was left. Kathy huffed as dread filled her. She was grabbed up quickly. Angry clicking in her face, he was obviously not pleased with her, but she turned her head away to look at the room again.

"_Don't run,"_ he told her again, in his voice it sounded far more sinister.

"Is she alive?" Kathy questioned honestly. Her voice sounded strangled, because she had gotten it into her head that they would never hurt them what with the human 'service' and all.

His masked face was intimidating as it loomed inches from her face. "_Don't run_." He said again. "_Female lives."_

Kathy calmed down, and acted as meek as a lamb with the Predator growling at her. He wrapped one massive hand around her wrist and tugged her along behind him. They entered the hallway again, and Kathy could no longer see Nirmala. She scanned the area but found her nowhere. She had little time to dwell on it as she was dragged down the hallway and toward the massive line of women and Predators exiting.

The same rumbling from before grew louder, the closer she got to the exit. It took a few minutes to identify where the sound was coming from. Kathy stared in horrified fascination at the sight that greeted her.

The Predators, so many her eyes could not see them all were rumbling. They were cheering? It seemed that way to Kathy. The volume of all of them together had sounded like the land beneath the ship should be quaking. She took a step back, her wrist tugging on her Predator's hold. Her turned his head and growled at her before pulling her forward again.

She watched those that proceeded her disappear into the throngs of Predators. It reminded her, all too well, or what was going to happen to humans. Her species would be swallowed up in the sheer number of Predators. There had to be millions present, just here. She was struck again by what Joan had said. This planet could easily be larger or smaller than Earth had been. Even if it was the same size, she'd likely never see the other women often if at all. There were billions of Predators between her and over 38 million human women.

A drop in the bucket, so to speak, humanity was the drop of exotic DNA that was going to prolong their species to torment and kill other for an untold amount of time.

He tugged at her writs. Kathy descended down the ramp with him. She tried to hold her head high. Let them roar, and growl, and sneer. Let them. She was human and damn proud of it. If this was going to be her first and possibly last chance to show them humanity's dignity then by God that is what she would do.

She was terrified, her knees quaked and she was ready to be sick. However, she refused to give them any more than they had already taken. She was marginally grateful that nothing of a sexual nature had been tried, though she'd never admit it to anyone out loud. They were murders and killers. They were bullies and horrid. However, they weren't rapists as far as she could tell. Renata and Nirmala had not mentioned anything like that, and Kathy was certain Renata would have said something.

Her feet walked on the Alien ground for the first time. Her Predator was suddenly reaching toward her face. Kathy reared back, startled. Something settled over the bottom half of her face. A mask? She turned questioning eyes to her Predator, ready to tear the damn thing off of her face.

"_Must adapt. Breathe bad here_." Her Predator rumbled lowly.

She hadn't even seen him carrying a mask. But his words settled over her quickly like a blanket. The atmosphere was different than earth. It was unsafe to breathe the air. Kathy placed one hand up to the mask to keep it from slipping. She took a deep breath in. It was harder than taking a normal breath, but not uncomfortable. She tried to control her breathing and calm down.

The numerous mandible filled faces with intense golden eyes did nothing to help her be at ease. Kathy lifted her head higher, even though her gaze lowered. If she did not look directly at them, it was not so unbearable. Her other wrist was still tightly in the Predator's grasp.

She wanted to ask a thousand questions. Where were they going? What was going to happen to them? To her? Where were Susan, Nirmala, Joan, Whitmore, and Renata? Could she see them? How was she going to adapt to the atmosphere here? What if she never could? Would she have to wear this mask all of her life? What would become of her supposed 'pups'? Would she ever see them? What was she supposed to eat now that Earth was gone? Did they grown human palatable foods here? Was that possible? Was she to be kept as a novelty? What would she do for the rest of her life?

More thoughts and questions raced through her mind, but she was being pulled into the throng of cheering, rumbling aliens and that took her attention away.

"_Deuub,"_ several called, excited.

He nodded toward those that said that word. Kathy thought that it just might be his name? Or perhaps a title? Was it telling him '_hey, good job catching those defensless humans! Was it fun to watch there planet go 'boom'?'_ Bastards.

"_N'jauka! Thar'n-da s' yin'tekai!"_ A rather large, even for their standards, Predator came forward.

Kathy ogled that it had breasts. She felt uneasy. The Predator had told her they had females. She sincerely hoped that it was so simple to tell the males and females apart. That would be highly helpful. Were all females so large? They were larger than the men and Kathy noticed what she presumed to be the female, wore a much different garb. She looked around quickly, spotting several more large Predators, all with breasts, and none of them wore armor.

What did that mean? Did it mean anything at all? Kathy couldn't help but think that it did.

The female also seemed rather interested in the Predator holding her wrist. She peeked up from her lashes, because they were just that tall, and watched. She was both interested and disgusted that they appeared to be doing the Predator equivalent of flirting. The female traced the skulls on his armor with abject interest and she hissed something in their strange language. Her Predator purred low in his chest, and puffed up with what could only be pride or interest.

'_So much for being mates_,' she thought darkly.

Irritated, frightened, and angry Kathy did something more than a little reckless. She tried to walk past the pair as if they didn't exist. She did not want to stand around in front of uncounted numbers of Predators while these two decided if they were going to go at it right here.

It set off a chain of events that she could never have seen coming. Her Predator growled, the female saw it as an insult, and Kathy ended up with a haircut. The crowd around them quieted in an instant. Their horrible alien eyes stared at her. The mask dropped to the ground as she reached up to feel the mangled locks in surprise. She had felt the sting on her neck and then the lightness of her head on one side. Cold fingers, from fear, touched her neck softly and pulled back to see blood.

Her eyes looked down to see her hair lying in a clump at her feet. Her gaze traveled to the female, who appeared quiet smug as her Predator hissed words.

Numb with shock, and feeling slightly light headed, Kathy did the only thing that came to mind. She slowly reached for the female's hand. Out of curiosity or perhaps it was surprise, the female allowed it growling lowly. Kathy tilted her head and extended one finger on the female's hand. The claw she had was razor sharp from what Kathy could tell.

Just look at her hair.

She yanked her wrist from her Predator, who allowed it, and gathered her untouched tresses in her fist. She cut them with a few pulls of the female's hand. Shock greeted her actions; shock from the Predator, shock from the female and shock from the crowd.

"You want it so much?" Kathy asked feeling her consciousness start to fade. "You keep it."

Her eyes landed on the second pile of her hair, and the mask that seemed to wink back at her reprovingly.

Kathy couldn't breathe, blackness clouded at her vision.

Something was shoved back on her face, but she was already closing her eyes. She was lifted, carried she thought, and she didn't remember much else.

When she awoke, or at least could start to recall and function, she was in a bed with softness all around her.

She bolted upright, and noticed that her Predator was watching her angrily. His mandibles flared and back arched.

"_Reckless_," he hissed at her.

She glared at him, hurt and angry. This was all his damn fault anyway. What was she supposed to do? Stand there while he practically showed her off like a prize mare? It was humiliating and horrible. Kathy heard him growl, but continued to glare at him anyway.

She reached for the mask, but there was none. Kathy looked around wondering if he was going to kill her now.

"_Safe here_," he growled. "_You stay."_

"Go to hell," she muttered angrily.

He blinked at her, before charging forward. His body swayed as he tried to dominate the argument between them. Kathy would submit, they both knew that, but she'd push the boundaries just a bit this time. Test to see what he might do.

"_Never say_. _I protect you. You mine."_

The phrase caused tears to cloud her eyes. She didn't want to be his. She didn't want anything to do with him. She nearly hated him and all of them. They were monsters.

"Go claim that_ female_. I don't want you!" She shouted at him.

He was looming and threatening. His presence was still managed to intimidate and terrify. He growled lowly, lowering his mandibles to her freshly mangled hair and Kathy looked away from his face. She didn't want to see it again.

"_Show respect_," the low timber commanded forcefully.

"You expect me to respect your kind or anything you say?" Kathy cried out loud, with bitter wracking sobs that shook her comparatively small frame. "You killed my people!"

"_Your people attack first!"_ He roared back angrily, so loud that her ears rang slightly.

"You stole us!" She shouted out bitingly. "What were we supposed to do? Just let you steal-?"

"_Bought_," he snarled, face inches from hers as Kathy fought down the urge to stare at the disturbing mandibles. They flexed, and she stared at the strange and foreign mouth. She shuddered involuntarily. His golden eyes were glaring at her harshly. "_Oomans sold females to Yaujta. Freely. For…"_ His angry hiss cut off what he had been saying. He clacked his mandibles closed, and grabbed roughly at his wrist guard. He shook it at Kathy.

Horrible understanding dawned. She climbed off the bed and away from him. Her back turned as she paced. Several heartbeats passed, before she turned to look at him.

"_Weapons_?" The question was soft, and withdrawn. "_We were sold for weapons_?"

Deuub growled and snarled. "_No,"_ he said.

Kathy looked at the item on his wrist, lost. Her mind tripped over itself in this bizarre game of taboo they had landed in. His wrist guard had weapons. It had metal. Her eyes met his unsurely.

"Metal? Resources?"

"_No,"_ he shook it at her again. "_More_."

More? She questioned to herself softly. What could a small gadget like that-

Her eyes widened, a few crystalline tears escaped and cascaded down her cheeks. They left a path down her soft skin, which only served to drive home the separation between their races. Her lips parted and a low moan of mourning resounded.

"Technology," it was no longer a question she asked. She knew it was something that could very easily have turned those in political power favorably.

They had been sold like cattle for technology and the heady promise of what future advancements they could make. Dear lord, she'd been so blind. So keen on seeing all of humanity as the victims, and while most were, they had died because of the wolves among them.

The room spun around her until Kathy could not tell if she was standing or sitting. Deuub was not finished yet.

"_Oomans agreed. Make bargain with Yaujta. Oomans knew for long years_. _Yaujta give list. Oomans approve._" His growl grew deeper and more ferocious. "_Then Yaujta come for what promised. Oomans try to betray_."

Her face gentled from anger at her own kind to untold sadness. Her people could not have been so foolish. Truly? Her mind tried to deny his words, and attempted to convince her she was hearing lies. Yet, he had never lied to her before. He had no reason to lie.

'_No. Please no_.' She thought helplessly. '_Please don't let his words be true. Please don't tell me that my world died because of some people's hubris. Oh God, please. Not that.'_ Her mind and heart were reeling. The preconceived notions she held about the Predators melted like the first summer snow. Her distrust, anger, and revulsion still persisted as strongly as before. However, for this at least she almost couldn't blame them.

Give her back her near-hate. Let her wallow in thinking of them as the monsters they are.

"_Oomans attack with weapons. Oomans __**steal**__. Not Yaujta. No mercy for no honor._" He grabbed her roughly, and she was held fast in his strong grip. Kathy could practically feel the bruises forming under her skin as he stared her down. Anything she did in this moment might only serve to infuriate him further.

Yet, her body acted of its own accord. Her limpid eyes trailed up his face and lingered on his. He bristled in agitation and Kathy blinked back her tears.

Her palms came up in a manner that pleaded for supplication. "But the whole planet? All of my people? How can that be honorable? Some were _innocent_."

He roared at her. "_No innocent. No honor."_ His voice shouted across her senses and Kathy trembled in his grasp. He hissed and she closed her eyes and lowered her face away from him. She did not want to think about this. She did not want to feel like this. How was she supposed to hate a species that defended itself? Pragmatically, she would always side with her people. But, Dear God, did it have to be so hard just to _exist?_

She shook her head as the tears fell freely.

"_S'yuitde_," he growled at her. "_Pathetic."_

Kathy looked at him, vision blurred with her sadness. "What did you expect?"

The question appeared to catch Deuub off guard and he clicked at her once more. His mandibles opened and closed several times over.

"_You are Pyode Amedha . Thar'n-dha. Dhi'rauta. Yin'tekai."_

She listened to his rolling timber as he said words she didn't understand. His inflection, however, made her guess that he wanted her to fight or be strong. Kathy simply couldn't right now.

"Why?" She asked lost and alone in this world, far more than she'd ever been in her own. Her hands landed on his shoulders, her fingertips brushing the strange flesh of his tentacles again. He purred even as she stared at him uncomprehending. "What good is being human where my species dies with all of the remaining females?"

He rumbled at her, his mandibles closed as his predatory eyes watched her face.

"My people have been sentenced to death and worse than that, to be forgotten. No one even knew about us except for the _E-wat-ya._" She babbled in disheartened sorrow. "My planet is gone."

He chuffed at the wail on the end of her words and shoved her roughly away from him. Kathy tripped backward, and fell sprawled onto the bed. She dashed at her tears angrily, but also with a sense of defeat.

"_Not death_," he growled gravely, "_some on reserve planet_."

Kathy blinked at him, her face splotched; arms bruised, and head spinning.

"What?"

It blinked at her slowly. "_Planet gone. Y'ess. Not death. Not all. Some Oomans on reserve planet. Small number. Oomans there."_

It was a revelation that she had never expected. How could Nirmala and Renata have known that there would be humans on another planet? A reserve planet, he called it. Could that mean what she prayed it did?

"Males too?" Kathy gasped while scrambling off the bed, scarcely able to hope.

He became so unnaturally still, she thought for a moment they were back on that alien planet when he'd stared at her from afar. Deuub narrowed his eyes at her, his mandibles flaring open for a moment. She was struck by the realization that he did not like her question, though she did not understand why. It was a question anyone in her position would ask.

"Please," she asked gently, coming toward him. "Please tell me. I need to know." And, she did. It was more vital in this moment than air, water, and food all combined. He appeared unmoved by her plea. Kathy tilted her head downward slightly. She knew he calmed down when she lowered her eyes, so she kept them so. It occurred to her that the more submissive she behaved, provided it wasn't what he called 'pathetic' the more he made that strange purring sound.

The one he was making now. She could feel his eyes on her, watching her and she waited. She drew nearer to him, he rumbled at her though she could feel his agitation in his posture. Several seconds ticked by and she began to internally question her attempt to gain information.

"_Y'ess_." His voice teased her ears like a caress.

Before she could stop herself, the joyous news had her throwing her arms around the giant as best as she could in an embrace. Kathy tucked her head in his shoulder as he stood there like a statue and clicked at her. She burst into a fresh wave of tears, these ones shed in joy, as she clung to him. It had not changed anything between them.

But, for just this moment in time, she could let herself feel happy.

OoOoOo

**Translations:**

Pyode Amedha: Soft meat (referring to humanoids)

Thar'n-dha: Strength

Dhi'rauta: Cunning

Yin'tekai: Honor

S'yuitde: Pathetic

N'jauka! Thar'n-da s' yin'tekai!: Welcome. Strength and Honor.


	9. Yaujta Culture Chapter

**Thank you my lovely reviewers! I hope you are enjoying the story so far. I greatly appreciate those that take the time to review. And thank you all for your help with my predicament. Special thanks to Tora Marikama, Quaff, Porter-Fuzz1218, and Happens. **

**To respond to one quest reviewer who said "They are already out of character so why worry about that?" Honestly Guest, I am trying. It is a bit difficult on my end to write of a species I have little knowledge of and have only seen two movies about. I am attempting to make this into a decent story where the Yautja don't instantly fall in love with the human and vice versa. I am also attempting to work between conflicting facts in the novels, comics, and cannon about the Predators. I do apologize that they are out of character. So, I can understand if this is not to your liking as a story, and I sincerely hope you are able to find something where they are more in character. Thank you for your review, **

**And, I've been writing this chapter for so long, I hope it helps clear things up about the species. **

**Rated M. I own nothing. Maybe a sensitive topic for some. Reader beware.**

OoOoOo

Shortly after her impromptu embrace with the humanoid Kraken, Kathy had watched him leave without so much as another word. He had appeared as confused about the whole situation as she'd been. Some part of Kathy couldn't blame him. One minute she was screaming and calling him a murderer, and the next she'd attached herself to him like a limpet. It had been slightly awkward when he'd all but pried her off of him.

She stared about the room where'd he left her with emotions conflicting through her. Nothing seemed right or correct anymore. Everything felt shuttered in some strange state of faraway facts.

Fact one: Earth was gone.

Fact two: She had a the 'honor' of being the biological mother to an undetermined amount of Kraken babies,

Fact three: Some humans still existed on an undisclosed planet somewhere within the endless bounds of space.

Fact four: Someone was standing in the door way watching her.

Kathy tilted her head in confusion and felt the first strains of relief at the sight of another human face.

A shorter woman than herself with dark hair and the alien's strange markings tattooed on her body stepped into the room. Every inch of her was nearly chiseled with muscle and the slender woman felt flabbergasted and could not help but stare.

"Who are you?" She asked with piqued curiosity.

The slap was like lightening, and Kathy tumbled to the ground, her cheek aflame.

"You and I are going to have a quick talk. If you expect to survive, and for the honor of the clan your Hunter is associated with, you are going to shut up and not speak unless spoken to," the Italian accent rung in her ears as her eyes watered in reaction to the hit.

Kathy could feel herself mentally reel back at the woman's sheer audacity. "Fuck you," the prone woman said harshly.

"Hm, there is some fight in you then? That is news." The woman bent over Kathy and picked her up as if she weighed nothing before tossing her around the room like a rag doll. Her back made a connection with the wall and Kathy groaned as pain blossomed.

Her eyes narrowed on the tattooed woman that was more or less kicking her ass. She did the only thing that came to mind, she spat at her.

The woman looked mildly surprised before continuing to knock Kathy about. Blood flowed freely from her busted lip and her eye on one side began to swell.

"Good," the woman praised neutrally, "but next time go for my eyes."

Kathy wiped the back of her hand across her mouth a crimson streak was left in its wake.

"Who the hell are you?"

"Ysabel."

"Mind if I ask what the heck you think you are doing Ysabel?" She growled out thickly trying to spit the blood from her mouth. The tangy taste of copper stuck to her taste buds.

The woman looked mildly bored, as she stared a battered Kathy down quietly. "I am likely saving your life. You should consider yourself honored and extremely lucky."

"Go fuck yourself," Kathy snarled at the woman, attempting to kick at the woman. She dodged it effortlessly and back handed Kathy for her trouble.

"You're weak, soft, and I highly doubt you've been trained to do anything." The woman's features were closed off as she gestured for Kathy to sit on the bed.

Kathy glared at her.

"First lesson. Don't stare at anyone in the eyes unless you want to challenge someone," Ysabel said calmly as she grabbed Kathy's hair and dragged her toward the bed.

The caught woman struggled, cursed, and yelled at the she-hulk of short stature to leave her alone.

"I have been tasked to come down here and make sure you understand Yaujta society. IT would seem you went and did something foolish and it will not be tolerated again."

"And you think beating me to a bloody pulp is going to help with that?" Kathy asked furious at her treatment.

The other woman laughed richly, and it was a pleasant sound but Kathy hated it instantly. She couldn't figure out what was wrong with this woman and she was concerned that she might kill her before the night was through.

"Why are you even doing this? You are human too."

"I was," the woman replied openly, "once. A long time ago."

It caused Kathy to fill with unease. "You think you're one of those _things_?" Disbelief was etched in her very words, and she almost forgot about the pain as stunned as she was.

The woman was inches away from her face.

"If you want to live, I strongly suggest you listen, watch, and learn."

Mutely, deciding that discretion was the better part of valor she glared mutinously at the woman's nose and shut up. Kathy learned so much about the Predators she could fill several textbooks, had she had a pen and paper she would at the very least have taken notes. The human predator waited until she'd settled herself properly on the bed before launching into a lecture that would have rivaled something in Oxford.

Males hunted for one reason, well two but only one that counted. The main reason was status. Every member of the pack, which was the Yautja's most apparent social structure, had a place, or rank, within a structured order. If a Yautja of higher rank were to have a disagreement with a Yautja of a lower rank, the lower-ranking Yautja would give up without a fight, thus preventing unnecessary bloodshed and allowing those of a lower rank the possibility to live and breed another day,

Packs could be as diverse as human social groups had been. They could contain a dominant breeding pair and other adults up to a certain number that the dominant pair felt comfortable with. Those dominant Yautja would retain their status as leaders until some circumstance, such as limited trophies, forced them out.

"A dominant male in the Pack determines where or when the pack hunts. The Leading male will also tell them what prey was acceptable and what should be left alone," her painted instructor informed her with a regal air.

Injuries due to growing over confident happened fairly frequently according to Ysabel. She'd seen several such altercations between Yautja that grew too big for their territories. A dominant male was also granted the distinguished honor of eating first. Every meal, without exception, Kathy was not to touch any food until Deuub had eaten his fill. To do so would upset the pack and possible cost Deuub his position or get him killed.

It was on the tip of her tongue to inform Ysabel that that sounded just fine to her, but she kept quiet at the look of warning the other female sent her. One could be poised as well as silent, Kathy mused.

Every Yautja took their role in society very seriously. A male kept outsiders from interfering in a female's breeding ground or from allowing the 'Engineers' near their society.

"Wait they have all this technology, but they do not like engineers?" She queried perplexed. Her chin supported by her arm as she bent over her knee.

"Engineers are an alien race that some speculate actually created life on Earth," Ysabel answered with a huff of indignation at Kathy's interruption.

Well, her mind was officially blown.

"What?" She asked with wide eyes. It was like being told that the Earth truly was round when all your life you'd been told it was flat.

Ysabel sighed heavily. "They are the most technologically advance species that any species has ever known. Unlike the Yautja-"

"Predators," Kathy muttered under her breath, refusing to meet the other woman's eyes.

"_Yautja,_" The other woman spoke louder over Kathy, "You really do want me to beat you. You aren't one of _those_ women are you?"

She wasn't but she refused to dignify that question with an answer. Kathy pretended she didn't feel a flush decorating her cheeks.

"The Engineers thrive not in the hunt, but in the creation of life. The altering of genetics is their specialty."

She stared at the woman. "Then why not go to them if they suffered from inbreeding?" She asked slowly, as if that should have been the obvious course of action.

Ysabel blinked at her, weighing thoughts Kathy was not privy to. "It is a sensitive topic; I suggest you not bring it up to anyone else." Dark eyes cut her to the quick. "There is some speculation among the Yautja that they created a very dangerous race of creatures made solely as a way of waging war against the Yautja."

"Wage war?" She asked suspiciously.

"Think extinction," her instructor said seriously, motioning with a thumb across her neck.

Kathy had no comment for that. It was not entirely dissimilar to what the Predators had done to humans. She wondered if Ysabel knew this before she started beating Kathy down. The women exchanged glances. She decided it was not in her best interest to go into the topic further.

Fuck, this was so convoluted already.

"Even from an early age Yautja established a pecking order amongst them. Pups, or 'sucklings' as the males call them are known to fight until one yields, and the other would then raise its tail to show dominance." Ysabel continued somberly.

"Oh come on, you can't be serious." Kathy quipped irritated. "What the hell is that? Are they actually like dogs then?"

The glare that earned her could have frozen the sun. Ysabel muttered something that sounded oddly like the word 'witch' only starting with the letter B. Kathy cleared her throat and looked out the window as Ysabel stroked a rather sharp looking instrument in Kathy's direction.

Ah, message received. As was the punch to her midsection.

"Why do you keep hitting me?"

"Because you aren't learning," Ysabel growled out angrily. "Do you think the Yaujta will treat you better than this? You've used the one pardon that was granted to the females when you pulled that stunt with your hair."

Her what? One pardon? A growing sense of dread pooled in her stomach. "If I mess up again?"

"I don't really even have to answer that, do I?"

"But, he said-"

"And on his ship that counts, not on Yaujta prime. He is not the Matriarch. Are you done interrupting?"

Kathy nodded, hugging herself for comfort.

Each warrior has trophies, which they mount on their walls. Kathy could only speculate what Deuub's wall must look like, and it caused her to frown. Especially since Predators only keep what, they as an individual, define as 'worthy' to be up there.

"Soft meat skulls are highly prized," Ysabel said slowly.

"Soft meat?"

Ysabel cleared her throat and tried to breeze past the "That would be us," part of the lecture.

"What? But then how are you here? You don't look or act like you were with the other women."

"I wasn't" She replied in a voice that could have made a lesser person cry. "Unlike those of you that were assimilated out of necessity, I had to earn the honor of living." Her dark eyes seemed to voice a terror the likes of which even Kathy had never known. "So do not start thinking that you are something special. Your status is below that of the children."

She had also held Kathy's hair when the nausea equated with her words hit in full force. Ysabel insulted her repeatedly until she was finished. Oh Dear Lord. They did actually _hunt_ and _Kill _humans. Or, they had. Kathy was relatively sure it was against the rules right now.

But that meant… Deuub might have human skulls on his wall?

She did not manage to hold down her lunch. Ysabel attempted to calm her by informing her that taking the trophy of another, either living or dead, was a huge insult and was considered a terrible crime. Her tone was uninterested as if she were reciting a multiplication table.

"So, in that sense Kathy, you would be forever safe. Feel better?"

She looked up at the woman with burning anger, spittle dripping from her lips, and water eyes.

"No," she stated clearly, "that does not make me feel better."

"Well if they have too big of an ego, or think they can behave in a manner unbecoming of the greater glory, they die rather quickly. Either young, or as a challenge later in life," the pack-adopted woman replied stoically.

"What about compassion?" Kathy asked wiping her mouth dry. "What about mercy?"

"They actually have a saying," Ysabel mentioned casually. "It literally translates to 'No Mercy.' You haven't been killed because it would be a massive insult to Deuub's honor and forced him to be exiled or destroyed. You also have not been maimed because of the leniency that was expressed for the 'soft' women."

She blinked. Her eyes searching the other woman's face intently. Kathy could tell she was only stating the absolute truth and it made her gut twist.

"So for crying, and everything I have done up to this point?" Her mind replayed all the things that had happened that could have been construed as insults.

The woman's brown eyes studied her. "You should be dead Katherine. Make no mistake of that. Mercy is not given nor expected, but Yaujta do understand it. They only hate their kind, as hatred for any other is the same as being afraid."

She eyed Kathy expectantly. "That's bad," she said after a moment's pause. "In case you were wondering."

"No," Kathy replied suddenly chilled to the bone. "I think I got that part."

She was surprised however, to learn that the Yautja have a matriarchal society. A male was never to interfere with the female role of power in politics, and a female did not care what the males did as long as conquering continued. It was so out of bounds for all that Kathy had previously known that she had the hardest time accepting what Ysabel was saying.

"But what if something happens? An altercation between a male and female Predator?"

"_Yaujta_," Ysabel corrected in irritation. "And if that happened, it would be very bad news for the male. He would face not only the female, but all her related clan. Grandmothers, mothers, sisters, daughters, nieces, ect. Would all attack him and he would not be helped by any other male."

"Not even those in his pack?" Kathy questioned intrigued.

"No."

She thought for a moment. "But what about their relations?"

"Packs are generally unrelated males."

"I don't understand, how does every pack work if they are all unrelated?"

Ysabel sighed deeply. "Every pack develops its own way of hunting."

"Hm," Kathy replied noncommittally as she tried to envision such a thing happening.

"Does that happen often?"

"What?"

She gave a noise of impatience. "Males attacking females."

"Almost never," the soldier answered quite seriously.

"But, don't they fight over territory?" She asked, watching the soldier's ridged posture.

"Yautja are nomadic. They never truly settled down in specific locations. All of their culture is centered around hunting, stalking, and killing prey."

She tried not to mention how cheery they sounded as a people. Kathy kept her gaze lowered on Ysabel's cheeks or nose to avoid any more slaps about the face.

Ysabel seemed unperturbed by her lack of response. "Males would have a larger interest in who fathered them as if makes a reflection upon them when they leave their mothers, but otherwise Yautja only consider what they keep with them to be theirs."

Dark eyes and a sinister smile met Kathy's disturbed gaze. "That would include you."

"Of course it would," she snarled more to herself than the one teaching her.

"You will be expected to go with him when his pack leaves."

"On his ship?" Kathy asked in disbelief with her brows rising almost to her hair line.

She did not look amused. "Where else would you be? On his-" she made a rude gesture to her crotch.

"Never mind," she interjected quickly. "You were saying.

Ysabel continued on, with a smirk dangling from her lips. She informed Kathy that Yaujta stayed with their mothers longer than humans did. And she told her that females stayed for the protection to raise children and for the dual purpose of maintaining dominance over their clan's territory. It was actually the Females that taught the young to hunt, fight, and survive. Their world was incredibly hostile every waking moment, and Yaujta constantly tested themselves against the elements and creatures.

A female clan was made up of multiple generations. However, female Yaujta did not have permanent pair bonds.

Kathy stilled. Her mind racing. "If the females don't then the males don't either," she reasoned aloud.

"You are correct. Yaujta males mate with multiple females for the largest possible number of offspring. Because it takes so much to rear a child, females only select to breed a few times every decade or so."

"How long do they live?"

"A long time," Ysabel answered quickly.

"But wouldn't that-?"

"Lead to competition among the males? Yes, and it is very fierce. They are also very strict social standards we will have to go over."

Kathy could hardly keep up as it was, and knowing if she made a single mistake it could cost her the life she had just started to want again was daunting.

"The higher anyone gets in society the more thy have to prove they deserve that position or die. No exceptions, especially among males."

Kathy nodded along; it made sense if their entire society was called to hunt. They would want only the strongest to lead them; it was one of the easier parts of her lesson to understand.

"You said that I would be ranked lower than the children," Kathy repeated quietly. "Do I answer to them? What do I do if there is another male around?"

Ysabel seemed pleased by the questions. "You do not answer to children. You would be considered 'unblooded' but not a servant or slave. Your contribution to Yaujta society has at least ensured you that much honor. You will gain no more unless you are willing to hunt, or are adopted into a female clan." Ysabel looked her up and down, "which is exceedingly unlikely."

Kathy took offense to her statement, but said nothing.

"You answer to Deuub and any that is above him. You answer to the females should they speak to you. As for males, you are never to speak to another one. _Only Deuub_. You will not look at him directly, and you are not to speak unless spoken to. You are in essence a trophy. Act like one. Stand there and be pretty, if you can manage that." The woman sneered at her.

She bit her tongue against the multitude of insults she wanted to level at the woman. If this was a test, as Kathy suspected it might be, she needed to pass. She might well hate the woman telling her all of this, but she had no choice but to be wise enough to listen and learn.

Ysabel stared at her, but Kathy refused to look up, she waited patiently. Her eyes fixed straight forward so as not to seem distracted.

Nothing happened, and Ysabel continued on. "You should know that under normal circumstances a male will know when a female is ovulating, they call it heat, instantly. I can tell you are curious, but it has to do with smell."

Unbidden she remembered when Deuub had sniffed the mud to gain her scent.

"You will be spared any sort of advances. Yautja males use all sense to find something attractive. You no longer have eggs and therefore will not have the "child-bearers musk." Ysabel looked away with haunted eyes. "Consider your good fortune. You are as unattractive as is possible to any male."

She did consider that lucky, she wanted nothing to do with mating one of those horrid things.

"You may get a curious glance or two, you will ignore it. You are a novelty, a living trophy, and no you have no 'rights'. This isn't Earth anymore and these are not humans."

Kathy did not have to be told that, she already knew it.

"Usually only the dominant female in a pack becomes pregnant. You also will not have to worry about this." Ysabel informed her tightly. "Never approach or speak to a Female, let alone a pregnant one. A female can easily outmatch an armored male when upset."

She paled at the shorter woman's words.

"Then, you are saying that I am to spend my life not looking at or speaking to anyone pretty much ever again?" Kathy tried to swallow the lump in her throat, but it became caught and held fast.

Ysabel stared at her with a hard expression. "Well that depends, do you or do you not want to survive?"

Honest to goodness, she had to think about that for a few minutes. "How did you survive?"

The other woman bared her teeth in a mocking imitation of a smile. "I refused to die."

It answered nothing, but told Kathy everything all at once. The younger woman prayed she had the ability to do just that.

"How were you adopted into the clan?"

"I told you. I refused to die." She narrowed her eyes at Kathy. "I was special forces of a sort."

She felt overwhelmed. She'd never even hope to compare to that. It would take years of highly intense training that she'd never get now. How the hell was she supposed to not die with larger, meaner, predators wanting to kill her to see if she was good enough to 'adopt'?

She couldn't. That was the honest answer. Her mind latched onto another topic in order to spare some of her self-confidence.

"Will there be a pregnant female on his ship?" She asked with sadness lingering in her heart that she was going to have to accept this. Did her will to survive run that deep?

Kathy guessed it must have.

Ysabel considered her question carefully. "They are not monogamous; I have already told you this. However, if a female does become part of a breeding pair with Deuub, you will be kept in a different area of the ship. She would kill you without hesitation."

"However, I think you are unclear on something. Those that were sent to chase after 'soft' mates were those that had already had sucklings, but the line proved weaker. They were threatened with castration to not only stop the chance of them continuing their line, but also of stopping their chance to advance in the male side of society."

"So they were after us so intently because-?"

"Those that failed to procure a 'soft mate' were castrated. Their DNA deemed unsuitable by the Elders, and no female would be willing to take a mate that produced defective offspring."

"Elders?" Kathy asked shaken. So that is why they had seemed so desperate to capture her. He had seen her as a better choice among the others. It had merely been a fluke that she had avoided capture so long. She'd been a saving grace, in human terms, to his gonads.

She honestly did not know how to feel about that.

"Males that cannot attract females, or who cannot breed sometimes attack other Yaujta out of frustration or anger," Ysabel informed her neutrally. "Most choose to die honorably instead of castration."

It seemed like a tough call to Kathy, but if she were a man she'd find it easier to understand.

"Deuub has proven himself by hunting many vicious prey and gaining trophies, hence the reason he was allowed to attract a female and produce sucklings. Even if they were weak, Deuub is not. However, his honor had taken a hit due to his weakened genetics. Something you have helped remedy for his line."

"What does that mean?" Kathy asked trying to process all she'd learned. "For me?"

"He is now permitted to mate at will. Many seasoned Yaujta may have well over 60 sucklings," Ysabel said unperturbed by Kathy's inner turmoil. "It means you'll have to learn to stay out of the way if you want to live."

"So there will be many 'hunts'?" Kathy asked concerned.

Ysabel nodded, stretching with the grace of a tiger. "He has to or society will look down upon him. He is a blooded warrior, but not elite."

"What is the difference?" To Kathy

"He hasn't killed a Xenomorph queen," she answered quickly.

Kathy blinked. "I don't understand, what is a Xenomorph?"

Ysabel pursed her lips with obvious irritation. "We are going to be here a while."


	10. Chapter 10

**Hi everyone,**

**Thank you so much for your reviews! I think you are all awesome. And, I tried to answer some questions that were posed in this chapter. As for Kathy expressing gratitude, it is in her character to try and find some sort of silver lining. She has just been traumatized and is trying to keep herself from breaking under the pressure of what has happened. As for PredxHuman hinting in an earlier chapter, we are going to get to that, please be patient. Hope you enjoy it. **

**Rated M. I own nothing. Maybe a sensitive topic for some. Reader beware.**

OoOoOo

Ysabel filled Kathy's mind with so much knowledge, that the woman feared there was no way she'd remember it all. However, as the clan-adopted woman reminded her, she had to. And, while that was not a complicated fact, it certainly was difficult. For five more hours they'd spoken at great length about all the things that were expected of Kathy. It did not escape Kathy's notice that Ysabel clearly resented the 'soft' women. It did not bode well that the last human she might ever see despised her for not having to go toe-to-toe with a creature far fiercer than herself in a death match.

There was also no way she could have survived against a xenomorph. The mere thought of one was terrifying enough to cow Kathy into admitting that the Predators might not be the worst thing out in space.

And, oddly enough, a part of Kathy could not blame Ysabel. However, another part reminded her quietly in the recesses of her mind that there were still very few humans left. Especially when she took the time to approximate what she thought their numbers might be compared to what they once were. There was a chance, she fervently hoped, that the surviving humans on the reserve planet Deuub mentioned could thrive again.

Yet, as she knew deep in her bones, it would take generations upon generations for their numbers to grow. It was also a sad fact, she felt, that their technology would be lost for countless generations. Even if the Predators had not dealt humanity a death blow, they had certainly crippled them beyond measure.

She studied Ysabel quietly, but took great pains not to stare at her in the eyes. That was a form of challenge, which explained the growling anytime she'd looked over long at the Predator's masks. The two women were nearly polar opposites. Kathy had never been in a fight in her entire life that had not been of a verbal nature. She was certain that Ysabel fought on a daily basis, and that seemed daunting to Kathy. Ysabel was well toned muscle and hard, demanding nature. Kathy was slimmer, thanks to her little romp on the alien planet running for her life, and of a more submissive nature.

She asked herself, and not for the first time, what kind of chance an average woman had in a race full of creatures whose lives revolved around hunting and killing dangerous prey? None of the answers she came up with ever filled her with anything except despair.

How many women, she wondered silently as she tried to pay attention to Ysabel, would be given this same information? How many would not? What was the defining line? What if the hunter was not liked by his associated female clan? Would his prize be subject to the whims of fate? How many would die? They had been given one pardon, but her mind strayed to women like Renata who would fight to the bitter end. Would they live much longer?

She prayed to God that they would. She prayed for strength and hope. She prayed for safety for the women. She prayed that if it came to the end, they had the grace to face death unafraid.

Did Kathy have it in her to fall upon the proverbial, if not literal, sword? She wasn't sure she did. She wanted to _live_. A part of her, which she blindly called human will, could not shake the desire to exist. Her life might be as a trophy, but she burned to see the other humans. She had to see them, needed to verify their existence with her own eyes. There might, just might, come a day when zooming amongst the stars she could see that they were thriving.

Perhaps if she could see that, she could stop caring about survival. It was a dark thought, and a primal one. There was very little chance that one could endure all she had and not risk walking with the black dog called depression. Was she afraid? Yes, she knew she was. Did she despise and resent what her life had become? More than she had ever felt that way toward anything before in all her years. However, humans could survive some of the worst hells imaginable. It seemed to Kathy that she was determined enough to find out what circle of hell she'd be trapped in.

She still had a hard time grasping the concept of flying through the stars on an alien space ship where her time would be reduced to a series of rooms. She sincerely doubted she'd be taken on hunts and that suited her well. She didn't want to see the Predators hunt and kill innocent beings. They seemed to thrive on extinguishing sentience as some form of sick need to prove themselves as great hunters.

Bastards.

The sudden sharp slap across her face caused Kathy to stagger to the side and gasp in pain. She glared heavily at Ysabel's smirking lips as she held a hand to her stinging cheek.

"You aren't paying attention," The woman warned almost amused. "Do you want to die? I can take care of that for you now."

"No," Kathy answered her, suddenly drained of anger.

"'No' what?" Ysabel challenged.

"No, I don't want to die." Kathy said it with such quiet dignity that if gave both women pause. Kathy had meant every word, and had only realized in that moment how much she did not want to die. She truly needed to survive this and see, if not try to help, the others.

Ysabel grew quiet and Kathy could feel her eyes appraising her. It did not feel condescending, but as if she was measuring the truth in the weaker woman's words. "Do you know why they hunted humans, Kathy?"

She thought about it for a moment. "Likely because we were intriguing prey." Kathy said slightly bitter. "Either for our cunning," she said slowly as she recalled Deuub's excitement of not finding her right away. "Or for the danger of it."

The last part seemed more to their disposition.

"You are mostly correct," the soldier replied matter-of-factly. "Both those things are true, but more importantly the Yaujta recognized humans as warriors in their own way."

There was something she was trying to convey to Kathy, but the battered woman couldn't quite figure out what it was. A humorless laugh escaped Kathy as she processed Ysabel's words. Sad eyes met the hard eyes of only 'warrior' in the room.

"I'm no warrior," she said honestly. It was not out of self-pity or to demoralize her. It was simply the painful truth.

"No," Ysabel agreed readily. "Not in the way I am."

She already understood that, and was a little miffed that the other woman felt she had to rub it in a bit.

"Remember," The clan tattoos on Ysabel were glaringly hard to miss and reminded Kathy that the woman had gone through far worse than herself. She felt deeply embarrassed for getting so upset. IT did not make her trials any less horrific, but it served to mentally put Kathy back in her place. She was not the only one who'd suffered. There was no way to tell how long Ysabel had been with the Predators, or what had happened in that time.

"They aren't humans, and you are a trophy. So act like it." The woman struck her shoulder gently.

Kathy nodded mutely. She would never be able to forget that part.

"Good," Ysabel said forcefully. "Now, you will not be on the planet much longer."

Kathy's head snapped up, but her eyes did not. They flicked toward the window which showed a world far more terrifying than her own. It was teeming with creatures that considered her whole species as trophies or prey. She'd leave here, and on that subject she had mixed feelings.

"How do you know?" She found that Ysabel possessing such knowledge would be strange.

The soldier's face gave away nothing. "He has submitted his success to the Female clan, and has also been granted a pardon by the Elders for his weakened line. He has no reason to stay, that I have been made aware of."

"So, I have to go back on the ship?" She muttered the rhetorical question to herself.

"Not on the ship you arrived in, no. It will be his ship and then he will pilot that to the territory currently occupied by his pack."

"What do I do?" She found herself asking subdued.

"When?" the shorter woman prompted after a moment in irritation.

"When I meet his pack," Kathy supplied resigned to forcing herself to live through this.

"You do nothing. You say nothing, and you do not under any circumstance look at them in the eyes or allow yourself to touch any of them. It would be _extremely_ unwelcomed and you would not like the result."

"Ah," she said lost in herself briefly. A life without looking at anyone, without talking to anyone, and without touch; it was a slow form of hell then. Kathy wondered how long she could sustain such an existence in reality. Movies made it seem as if such things were easy to adapt to. However, Kathy had read stories about POW survivors. Granted, she would not be subject to the inhumane torture, but people were capable of breaking.

How long could she not break?

"You probably won't come across them, but stay away from the bad bloods," Ysabel warned lowly. "If you see one, be prepared to fight or die. You would not be able to survive them, in case you were wondering."

No, she hadn't been wondering. It was on the tip of her tongue to ask the other woman to elaborate, but the name 'bad blood' implied almost everything she needed to know. Were they also like the 'Engineers'? Were they a natural enemy of the Predators? Whatever they were, they apparently did not like humans and would not care that she was a 'trophy'. Kathy had the sickening suspicion they would hurt her because she 'belonged' to a Predator if they were-

Screw it; she was just going to ask.

"Why are they called 'Bad bloods'?"

Ysabel all but rolled her eyes at the Kathy. "Because they are bad and the Yaujta have cast their bloodlines out."

She digested that bit of information silently.

"Wouldn't that mean the castrated males would have been cast out since they have 'bad' offspring."

"No."

"Oh, well why not?"

"It's not the same thing," Ysabel bit out with clenched teeth.

Kathy prickled at her tone. She wasn't stupid, but she did not know anything about them and taking any fact for granted seemed foolish.

"Are they like the Engineers?"

Ysabel frowned, turning her mouth into one hard line. "Don't talk about the Engineers, but no they aren't like them. They are Yaujta that have been cast out due to crimes against the society or failing to follow the code of honor. They have _no_ _honor_." Her last words were almost like a hiss of displeasure.

"I don't understand," Kathy said, "if they are outcast, how would I ever run into them?"

The soldier sighed as if Kathy was a four year old child who could not grasp some simple concept. "You won't likely come across them, but you will be with Deuub's pack." Her finger pointed upward. "_In space_. And, while space is a _big, vast, place_ it is not 100% unlikely that you will see a bad blood or at least hear them spoken about. If they are seen, Deuub with either try to destroy them himself or alert an arbitrator." The sarcasm all but dripped off of her words.

"Arbitrator?" The question was asked in true curiosity.

"It's like a police officer, or Marshall, a Yautja that enforces the law." Ysabel explained with patience wearing thin.

"I won't see them, but if I do, Deuub will call the _Predator Police_?" It sounded so ludicrous that Kathy could not help but repeat her thought out loud.

It earned her another slap. The already battered woman touched her once more bleeding lip with a wince.

"Yaujta!"

"My mistake," Kathy muttered rebelliously.

"Do not make it again," Ysabel growled, "I did not just waste my time hear for nothing."

Kathy resisted the urge to point out that 'waste' already implied she'd done something for nothing. However, her face did not want be on the receiving end of any more reminders from the temperamental woman.

"I still don't understand something," Kathy hesitated to speak.

The shorter woman narrowed her eyes. "Why am I not surprised?"

The captive woman grimaced slightly. "Why did they even need us?"

"I have already-"

"No, I know why they needed the genetics," she could not bring herself to say 'eggs', "why did they need to keep the women? They could have bargained for just the DNA."

Ysabel's body language made it seem as if Kathy had two heads suddenly. "You think this is Star Trek where everyone suddenly is Liberals is space?" The woman voice was incredulous. "The Yaujta never specified what the women were for."

"Still, they must have had some idea," she hinted despretly.

A sigh greeted her ears. "Yes, I suspect they had a very good idea, but honestly do you think any woman could go back to life on Earth after giving up 'DNA' to the Yaujta?"

"What about fertility clinics?" Kathy pestered. "They could have just handed over embryos!"

"Embryos are not what they needed."

Silence persisted.

"They could have handed over frozen eggs," The human-trophy said after a few moments.

Ysabel cleared her throat. "Katherine, you and the other women are weak."

She blinked and considered risking another blow to tell Ysabel where she could stick it.

"And by weak, I mean genetically."

"What?"

"The women were not given by the government, but selected by the Yaujta. You and those other women have a higher amount of recessive genes for your respected regions or countries. And, yes, while it is true that people with darker eyes or skin color have a more dominant genetic pairing when compared to someone with the lighter equivalent; the DNA of the women selected is weaker and more easily manipulated. Your DNA was chosen for that reason, as was every other woman's here."

"But they took Nirmala and she's a genius," Kathy argued.

"Intelligence is a fuzzy concept at best, and no single gene is responsible for it as far as we knew."

Of course it was.

"But, why keep us? After our 'contribution' we do not matter to them. And, if Earth were still there we could have gone back."

Ysabel laughed mockingly. "Yes, and I am sure that once humans advanced more in technology, they wouldn't have come after the Yaujta for some form of 'revenge' even though they were part of the bargain and it wasn't actually forced on them."

She didn't have a rebuttal for that, it would likely have happened.

"Why keep us?" She tried again.

"This is a species that has centered all of its society around the hunting, stalking, and killing of prey for honor or status. Instead of a challenging hunt, they were given weak prey and told that if they did not procure one their balls would be sliced off. A society decides what is honorable and what is not, and who should be honored for what they have done."

Kathy felt the dread pool in her stomach. "And they have to take trophies from their hunts," she said bitterly. "So they kept us because it was part of their culture?"

"If course they did. That soft body of yours still houses a skull and spine. As far as I am concerned you are an uncleansed skull."

Well, wasn't that an appetizing thought.

"Will they all view me this way?"

Ysabel shrugged. "Possibly."

"And you are certain that they won't try to…"

"To?"

She blushed, and sputtered at the ground. The best she could managed was a hand motion. "You know?"

A stinging slap to the face stopped her question mid-sentence.

"Katherine, you are _here_ now and soon I will not be here to hold your damn hand like a toddler as you ask a bunch of stupid questions." Ysabel snarled.

Oh good, she would take that to mean 'no'.

"When will Deuub be leaving?" Kathy asked, voicing her captor's name for the first time. The word was strange and made her tongue feel thick in her mouth. Her small rebellion against Ysabel went unnoticed as she voiced yet another question.

She detested it immediately, as she detested him and his species. Her eyes glancing back toward the window that only served to poke at her psyche that hers was gone. Earth was still gone, and Kathy was still to be drug around as a Kraken's living memento. She refused to allow herself to think about their soon to be mutant children.

"Soon," Ysabel answered unhelpfully, "provided that no female has need of him, he will depart quickly."

Quickly could mean anything to someone who had no way of telling the passage of time. And to 'have need' of someone could mean anything as well from lifting, to talking, to-

"You said he could mate at will," Kathy said thoughtfully, "but you also said he produced weaker offspring and that Pre-" the ache in her cheek reminded her promptly, "I mean Yaujta females would not mate with those that produced weak offspring."

She was given, what she was certain, was a withering look. Or at least she thought so; Kathy was not looking at the woman in the eyes again. "And?"

"So, if that is true. I won't have to worry about females being aboard the ship."

"I already told you that."

"You said he could become part of a mating pair with a female."

The soldier appeared unamused as she traced fingers delicately over the knife at her hip. Kathy was going to have nightmares about that, and everything else about these dammed Predators.

"I said '_if he were'._ I can't see into the future, and unless there is something you haven't told me Katherine, neither can you."

If she could have seen into the future, she did not know what that would have changed, had it changed anything at all. Kathy sighed, because she knew that she was stalling. She did not want to leave here even though she did not know where 'here' was and did not feel particularly safe.

The mere thought of being alone with Deuub and his pack as her only companionship felt as if she was being sent to an execution. However, she would never know when the death blow was going to strike or who was going to give it to her. She'd constantly be on edge and keeping herself out of their way with no one to share her feelings of rage, sorrow, fear, hope, and purpose with.

Yet, she had to survive this for the chance to see others.

"What do you think my chances of living are?" She asked Ysabel without guile.

The other woman grew quiet, her eyes never leaving Kathy.

"If you are smart, and do what I have told you, I'd say they are decent." The soldier relaxed slightly and Kathy tried to find comfort in that.

She could work with a decent chance.


	11. Chapter 11

**Wow, I had no idea everyone would hate Ysabel so much! I thank you for your time and reviews my lovely readers! Please understand that I will try to describe the state of isolation Kathy endures, but stick with me. **

**Rated M. I own nothing. Maybe a sensitive topic for some. Reader beware.**

OoOoOo

She was left, finally, in her tiny room with a single window that showed only the strangeness of this alien planet. Kathy did the only thing she could. She paced and contemplated her fate. Eleven steps to the right, and she reached the wall. A metal she had seen before, but was not certain what it was made of.

Would she survive this?

Eleven steps to the left.

Would she be sane? Tears prickled her eyes and she rubbed at then hastily. Another wall in her way, and Kathy reflected that her life had become a series of walls. Walls that kept her contained behind doors that would never open to her will. Her eyes traced the room about her with forlorn expectation.

Back to the right again. She feared him; there was no need to deny the truth. She feared his people, and she feared what she would become in order to survive. Would she be like Ysabel? Had it simply gotten to the point that Ysabel identified with the creatures? Stockholm syndrome that is what it was called. Had she already been empathizing with those things for months if not years before all this had happened? How long would it be before Kathy followed the same path?

It was best not to dwell on that, she turned to the left. No, she did not want to think about that but she couldn't stop all the thoughts that twisted and wormed like maggots in her head.

Her steps strayed to the left, once more. How long would it be? How long until she was jammed aboard another ship and blasting through starts Earth hadn't even known about? It was a powerful and humbling question all at once.

The door cracked slightly, and Kathy turned slightly afraid. There before her stood Deuub. Her time had come. She went without protest to follow him, as she did not want him to touch her. She could have looked at the expanse of the city against the setting sun. She could have marveled at the structures that jutted out from the ground until they seemed to pierce the very sky. Yet Kathy could hardly look, for another Predator might see that as an offense and then she would be dead. She would never find the other humans if she died.

She did not even bother to look up at his ship, she did not want to see it. She did not want any of this. She hated him and she hated what his people had done. She was shown off, like the trophy she was to his pack members. She said nothing as they clicked and growled at her appraisingly. Deuub puffed up with what she thought to be masculine pride.

'_Yes, be proud you caught a defenseless woman to save your balls,_' she thought venomously. She hoped that this humiliation that burned deep within her chest would subside soon or she would be forced to do something imbecilic.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, he led her down a narrow area of the ship and opened a door. She knew without asking that it was her room. This is where she would stay and Kathy could not help but feel that her whole life had become nothing but a series of small rooms with immovable doors.

OoOoOo

A life devoid of touch that is what she had. She did not speak to anyone, could not, for fear that she would be killed. It ate at her insides and beckoned her to cry out in her dreams. She was forever alone in a room filled with past conquests, except for the times when Deuub would come in to clean his trophies. Only then, would someone be with her and though Kathy despised that it had to be a Predator; any living being was a welcome refuge from the dead.

She had a vague idea where he went when he was gone for what seemed like days on end. He would always return, some sort of prize gripped in his large hands as he placed it reverently with the others. Then he would begin to clean them all. One by one, he would polish them until the bones gleamed in a sickening light that left Kathy to stare at them all over again. The wall hung with the alien heads, and the skulls she recognized as human.

Those she longed to touch, in order to mourn the poor men that had been slain by Deuub and his kind. Kathy had wept for them, when she was certain that the Predators would not be returning for some time. He would leave food and water for her, as if she were some dammed pet of his. She hated the fact that in some small way it was true.

She also hated that she began to long for touch from him. Anything, even just to stroke her hair, or light pressure on her shoulder. _Something_, she needed the feel of touch, the sound of reassurance, or the camaraderie that only another human could provide; but there was nothing. His attitude toward her was in sharp contrast to how he had been originally, but then again she had been considered lower than the children. Was she a child in his eyes? Humans had much patience for children. Humans had the understanding that an offspring's ways were undefined until they were older and humans also had the saying that children had to be taught. Did he consider Ysabel's last words to Kathy the end of her 'teaching' period? Was she to be ignored now?

Only the skulls on the wall kept her company, and she started to feel as if they judged her for living. She curled into her bed with the furs that had been provided to her. Where Deuub slept, Kathy did not know. She was not certain that Predators even did sleep. Though she had envisioned killing them in their sleep several times, she had yet to actually see one sleeping.

Her imagination was boundless, but her body was trapped with her thoughts both kind and dark.

She had spent many hours imagining what the humans he had killed must have looked like. Some of them seemed older than she'd been expecting. She wondered briefly if Ysabel hadn't been quite truthful about what was done with trophies after the Predator died. Perhaps he had inherited some of them? Most looked terrifying without their flesh on, she could only imagine how hard some of them had been to kill.

Kathy would then spend the remaining time until his return staring at the door or out the window. She had lost track of the number of planets they had visited, or how many times she stared into the infinite maw of space. The irony did not escape her that she could see wonders untold throughout the galaxy, and she had never learned the name of any star other than Polaris. There had been so many on Earth more deserving of a chance to see the stars than herself.

She ran her hands over her hair, though still horribly uneven, it had grown slightly since she'd been locked inside this room. How much time truly had passed? There was no way to know. How much time, if measured by earth standards? Had it been weeks? Had it been months? Had her birthday come and gone? Such frivolous thoughts she had. However, it was remembering the small traditions that kept her sanity stronger than it would have been otherwise.

She walked the parameters of her cage, careful to skirt past his trophies. She knew better than to touch them that was to invite death to take her. She felt as if they followed her as she stalked the length of her prison. '_His room,_' her traitorous mind whispered. She stopped long enough to quell the voice inside of her that had started to rise in the face of her isolation.

She refused to break because of this.

Kathy had started to long for conversation, even if it was in her language the stimulation was vital to a human, but Deuub never spoke to her. He chittered in that strange language of his but never at her. It was only the few strings of heavy sounding syllables he hissed at his pack members before ducking inside of his room. It was as if she did not exist. He would leave, she assumed, to socialize with the other hunters. They never entered this room without Deuub present.

She wanted to rebel, part of her grew steadily more attached to the idea, but nothing would come of it.

Kathy thought it was to keep her safe, but the thought merely left a bitter ache in her chest. Safe. There was no such thing anymore. She had nothing. She was for all intents and purposes nothing to them. Her thoughts often turned back to her eggs, and she wondered more than once if one of her monster children had been born yet. Would they be cursed with their mother's status? Or would they be given the chance at Deuub's? He never said, and she was restrained from asking. Alone in her thoughts, as she had been for a while now, Kathy had kept the memories of Earth alive.

Other parts of her were slowly dying though. Her hatred toward the Predators had lessened somewhat. She wasn't sure if she mistook their lack of physical and sexual abuse for a form of kindness, or if they simply did not do that sort of thing. She needed them, and she knew that. She would die a slow and agonizing death from starvation without Deuub if he kept her locked in this room without feeding her. She could die a quick and painful death if he killed her. She could simply stop having the will to live, but that one never faded.

He was the only living creature she actually had any sort of contact with, and she was fighting back the overwhelming chance of insanity because of it.

She started at nothing, the window affording her a grand view of a strange planet, but Kathy had stopped caring. A place she could not go, a world that was not her own, and the crippling loneliness that surrounded her with the familiarity of a favorite coat were all she could see. Isolation was a dangerous thing for a human. It began slowly, and in increments that she would not eat. Deuub's room always felt cold, and the cold lingered in her limbs, but Kathy could recall when she had first been brought aboard that it had been near sweltering.

He would tell her when to bathe by pointing to the washing area, she would lose track of the days in-between baths. Time was of no real consequence to her anymore.

Her thoughts had also become harder to control; thinking had become difficult for a prolonged period of time. Kathy would simply sit and stare into nothingness. Her memories of Earth and how it the wind had felt on her skin comforted her somewhat. She would recall the scent of a storm in the air, and feel of snow. She would see dozens of people on the street or recall the sound of children laughing. It kept her from the brink of a place she could never return from.

In-between her state of lucidity, Kathy was extremely restless. She would laugh at nothing, or cry until she knew Deuub might return. She would resist the urge to lash out and squash fruit that was given to her. Her emotions were as scattered as her thoughts. She swung from hate to love of the Predators in the blink of an eye.

She was being broken down little by little because her will to live was keeping her from breaking the rules Ysabel had so clearly laid out for her. Kathy was doomed to have to make a choice soon. She could only tolerate so much in the emptiness until Deuub would visit. She had slowly begun to gravitate toward him as he cleaned. Her head was always down and eyes averted from him. He'd rumble at her, letting her know he was aware of her, but never once did he pause in his task. He was kind to her in that sense. He left the choice for how close or far to be in their limited time up to her. She only managed to fall asleep when he was there anymore. She had come to need the sounds that emitted from him to be lulled into the place where dreams eluded her.

She would wake, normally, to an empty room with the skulls silently mocking her. On rare occasions, if Deuub's prize was something special, she would wake to him watching her with those dark alien eyes. Kathy was always quick to look away. He never offered her mercy, and she now knew better than to expect it.

Or, so she thought.

Until the day Deuub lead her from her tiny room. His hand closed around her wrist and he dragged her up from her bed. Kathy shook with near delight at the sensation of his warm skin upon hers. Delight bubbled inside of her, and though some part of her felt disgust at herself, it had been so long. Her breathing quickened and she followed him like a nervous filly. Her eyes swung from side to side, but she never looked upward. It raced across her thoughts that perhaps he was setting her free amongst the other humans, or he was going to kill her.

Both had certain appeal to her at the moment. Kathy watched the pack members feet crowd around the outside of the door, and she made a considerable effort not to look at them. She could not remember what they looked like anymore. They chattered at Deuub who rumbled something at them in that guttural language she both loathed and marveled at. She still hadn't figured out how they talked with those mandibles, but she watched his tentacles move with his every step.

She hissed involuntarily when she was led down the ramp and into the light. This was a planet with a larger or more suns. She could only guess, but the light hurt her eyes, and Deubb yanked her forward when she stopped to adjust her eyes. Kathy felt her shoulder move with his determined motion. She still quietly relished the feel of air around her.

It occurred to her belatedly, that he hadn't placed the breathing mask on her face. She looked around inconspicuously, and noted more strange vegetation that was different from Earth. Vivid images of her destroyed home world flashed through her mind, combined with her time running from the Predators.

She licked dry lips, and mourned in her heart from the things she'd lost.

He led her to a patch of ground near the base of a grouping of skulls that surrounded a platform of some sort. Kathy swallowed grimly and tried not to look at the countless empty bone faces as her mind tried to place images to the hollowed contours of what had once been living. Some irrational part of her trusted Deuub, though he should not have been trusted because he was partially responsible for the near eradication of her people.

"Don't move," Deuub's mask played a clip from a human male's voice.

Kathy said nothing, she stood still.

He clicked at her, and she felt some small amount of satisfaction that he sounded somewhat pleased at her. She hated wanting to please him at all, and she fought with herself over it. However, her attention was drawn away by some strange device he pushed into the dirt. It burrowed downward and a strange symbol appeared on Deuub's wrist guard.

"_Armed_," a British man's voice floated around her ears. Kathy felt a tension ease from her at the sound of another human, though she knew it wasn't real. Just the sound of real words she didn't babble to herself was a tiny slice of heaven.

She also did not like that he moved over three inches and placed another one, it linked to the first before burying itself. What a strange device. He continued the action over and over until it formed a circle around her. Briefly, a flash of blue rose all around her as Deuub clicked and waved his hand over it. The light flashed red before dying down back into the ground.

'_What the hell was that?'_ Kathy pondered curiously and with a touch of fear starting to creep into her belly.

"_Safe, don't move_," he warned as she stared at the newest skull strung across his armor.

She nearly snorted at him, she wasn't going to move. If she had to take a guess, he'd just buried some sort of dangerous trap around her. She thought it considerate of him to leave her a little space to sit down, so she would not have to stand. She saw the shimmer appear before he and his pack members were gone from sight.

It brought up a lot of unresolved anger and memories of being taken from Earth only to be hunted like a damn wild animal for nefarious purposes. She gave a wan smile at the thought that if any therapists had survived; she was going to need one. She hoped they didn't charge, she hadn't been abducted with money on her.

She waited, adoring the sounds of animal life in the distance. She knew she should be afraid, and on some level she was, but it was stimulation. It was out of that room and away from the skulls.

Her eyes flickered over to the platform lined with skulls. '_Alright_,' she amended, _'away from the other skulls_.'

Kathy hummed to herself. Her notes were off key from lack of use. There was the barest hint of happiness welling inside of her and she basked in the warmth of the sun shining down on her skin. Over an hour passed with her simply humming softly to herself and listening to the sweet sounds of something that actually sounded close to a hippopotamus.

Her mind had begun to come alive again. She looked with renewed vigor at the plant life, beautiful splashes of color all around her beckoned her to gaze at them. She squatted down to peer closely at some sort of strange flower, she assumed, but did not touch. Kathy was still aware enough not to be a fool and go touching something poisonous. However, she allowed herself the indulgence of taking a discreet whiff of the elongated red petals that curled in a ringlet. She had never smelled anything like it, and thought the scent was slightly sweet it was not unpleasant. She stood again, stretching her sore limbs. She only paced her little prison, but sometimes that was all she did for hours on end.

Another hour passed in blissful silence, and Kathy began to grow uncomfortably hot. The sun was likely giving her sunburn, but she enjoyed it. Sensation across her skin. She scanned the horizon, and thought over the good fortune she had to be allowed out of the ship. Perhaps Deuub was not so terrible after all.

She heard a loud squeal in the distance, it sounded of pain. Kathy's head whipped around to located the sound. A strange snorting followed, and she could hear something moving along the trees. The sound of branches snapping as something thundered closer. The ground beneath her feet trembled, and Kathy copied the notion. Her eyes widened as a large beast burst out from the underbrush. It's large square head causing her to gasp.

The creature was furious, and very large. Kathy had to stop herself from taking a step back. She was stuck in this circle. She did not know if moving her hand over the sensors would cause her to blow up, or how far she would have to over step the devices to not have something truly nasty happen to her. She made the mistake of letting out a whimper, and the massive gray head of the beast swiveled toward her.

With a bellow, that reminded her of something out of the movie Jumanji, the creature charged toward her with deadly intent.

Kathy closed her eyes and trembled, as she hoped that whatever Deuub had buried would keep her safe like he'd promised. She could feel the ground shift with every alarming movement of the creature.

She was going to die.

Eleven inches. Eleven measly, tiny, tiny inches away from her the beast stopped. Kathy opened her previously closed eyes at the sound of a thud against the ground. She had thought it to be the animal's charging steps toward her. A splatter of something hot, whipped across her body. It was thick and warm. Her jaw tightened as her mind refused to process what it could be. However, silence and a lack of pain had her questioning what had happened. For a brief moment, she thought she might have been killed upon impact and not have known.

She looked at nothing but silent trees. The air still muggy and warm as the wetness cooled on her body. There was no beast, her limbs felt heavy as she wiped at the wetness across her face. '_Don't look_,' her mind warned and Kathy obeyed without question. She looked around, and saw nothing. She looked up and saw only the strange foreign sky, almost as blue as Earth's had been.

She made the mistake of looking down.

'_What the fuck are those things?_' She thought in shock. Her mind felt fuzzy and the roaring of a Predator seemed so very far away. Was she underwater? No, no she could not be, she was breathing air. '_What_?' her mind asked the question she could not voice. Her eyes could not help but stare in fascination of the headless beast whose sickly yellow blood was pooling around her. So much yellow was spilt upon the alien grass. The color was so strange that she wanted to deny that it could even be called blood.

The beast was dead. But how? She dimly saw the lack of head and her sluggish mind turned to the next question. Who? Or what? Either of them was legitimate to ask at this point. How could they have found her so quickly? They would have had to have been waiting by the camp. Yet, they had left for their hunt hours ago. She should have been protected in her little circle Deuub had forbade her from moving from.

The world stopped as realization dawned over her wickedly.

"Oh God," she whispered in stark horror. "Oh God no," she denied to no one and everyone. Her heart burned, and the world spun around her clouded vision. Her stomach tightened and she felt lightheaded all at once. She could not repress the startling conclusion of why they had taken her off the dammed ship.

She was useful in this barbaric and sick excuse for entertainment they had the nerve to find honor in.

They had not only taken her on a 'hunt', but had used her as fucking _bait_ and left her alone in this wilderness to lure the next future trophy to its doom.

Her wide eyes scanned back and forth in the dense cropping of vegetation. How could they have done this? What the heck was wrong with these things? It was in her to sob, but Kathy feared she might attract more unwanted attention. She stood trembling silently as she waited for either Deuub or one of his pack mates to come collect their prize. Her skin crawled in revulsion. They called her people betrayers. Kathy was pretty damn sure that humans would never have used supposedly honor-bound trophies as bait.

Ysabel had warned her that she would go everywhere he went. She had not been so cynical as to believe she would be required for use in a hunt. Her eyes strayed toward the numerous skulls piled high in a sick sort of homage to their predatory glory. She shuddered once more. She could feel the bile building in her throat.

A growl alerted her that someone had finally come closer. She eyed those soulless skulls and grimly reminded herself that a trophy did not talk. However, she could not help but think bitterly about how a trophy wasn't supposed to be a living being either.

There was too much silence.

She knew something was wrong by the way the hair on the back or her neck and on her arms prickled instantly as the creature neared. Kathy risked allowing her glance to drift upward slightly. Her heart hammered in her chest, and her blood froze in her veins.

That was not Deuub or any member of his pack.

It was a Predator, huge and muscled. However, where the others had always worn armor, Kathy saw very little on this one. She could see the clearly defined scars on its abdomen, and the red marks along its chest. A silver-looking metal held a clasp together of a shoulder covering, a strange shape. Its mandibles were slightly flared and Kathy allowed a few terrified breaths to escape her lips. Her eyes darted over him, taking extreme caution to never go near his face. His tentacle protrusions were framed in what looked like vertebrae.

She stared horrified as her mouth went dry. Two large skulls, easily the size of a human's, covered both of his knees. She could make out what seemed to be the skull of another predator on that shoulder covering, as it moved closer toward her. It was a ghastly sight.

'_Oh shit_,' was her only coherent thought. Her head dropped in instinct. Kathy fought to keep from hyperventilating as the unknown Predator reached the corpse of the beast. She peeked through her lashes, instinct screaming at her it was a threat, but her mind shunned any idea of leaving her protective circle.

The sound of squishing flesh, sickening and wet violated her ears. She felt her eyes water as the Predator reached a hand straight into the animal in a quick motion, before pulling out its still intact spine. The bile in her throat rose higher. She was going to be sick, if she lived through this.

'_Stay calm_.' She thought rationally. It was not possible for her to be calm at a moment like this, but if she ran she knew she would be killed. Either by whatever it was the Deuub had put into the ground, or by the scary looking skulled predator in front of her.

Having collected its well-deserved prize and Kathy was glad she wasn't yet in the beast's place, the skull Predator turned toward her. Kathy dropped her gaze as quickly as was humanly possible. She stared at the ground and the yellow blood that mixed with the dirt, turning it a horrid shade.

It growled at her.

Kathy remained still and silent. She clamped her mouth shut, and refused to even risk looking at the thing. She shut her eyes tightly. If she was going to die, at least the Predator had proven to be quick about killing things.

"_Bhu'ja? vayuh'ta h'dui'se h'dlak. Nanku,__sei-I, nanku._" His voice was far more sinister than Deuub's. It chuffed to itself, and Kathy had the distinct feeling in the pit of her stomach that this was far from a good turn of events.

Perhaps, with Earth now gone, he'd want a nice human trophy. She could see him lifting her grinning skull with its empty eye sockets giving nothing away as he boasted to his pack mates. '_Look at this one_! _Isn't she a butte_?' Her mind gave the Predator a slightly Australian accent as it clicked about her demise. Her thoughts were scattered in the wind.

The Predator drew closer still. Kathy counted the breaths until she either ceased to need air or until he left. She could hear his footsteps on the ground, it was only eleven inches, and how many steps did he truly need to take? Her eyes cracked open, and she saw him circling her as she kept her gaze to the ground. She stalled for a moment in fear, it dawned on her what he was doing.

He was looking for whatever it was that Deuub had buried in the ground. Involuntarily, she whimpered. The Predator paused, and chattered at her. It seemed wicked and amused at the same time. Kathy's skin continued to send shivers of warning to her brain. She knew that this was extremely dangerous, but she could not go anywhere.

'_Where are they_?' she thought frantically of the hunter that was supposed to protect her, and his pack. She puffed a breath, trying in vain to keep her heart from slamming inside her ribs. She could feel his eyes on her, and though Kathy did not understand why this Predator frightened her more than others, it felt different to be watched by him.

He kneeled down, Predatory gaze on her, as he tapped something on his wrist guard. Kathy swallowed as a strange sound followed by a symbol appeared on the screen of the wrist guard. It roared at her, and reached a hand to her neck. Kathy gasped and sputtered as precious air was taken from her. She clawed at the vice like grip that held her fast. She could hear the sounds of her pitiful attempts to breathe.

He brought his face within inches of hers and Kathy's terrified gaze lingered on his exposed mandibles. She wriggled as her lungs burned for sweet relief from her torment. The Predator choking her slowly to death clicked at her, his enjoyment of the scene before him was fairly obvious. Or part of her mind couldn't help but believe he had to enjoy this.

The tag around her neck beeped angrily. It broke the giant's bloodlust, and the Predator growled as it yanked the tag closer with its free hand. Kathy could feel her consciousness start to leave her. Black spots danced in her vision and she felt a sense of morbid delight that it would all be over soon. Part of her fought angrily at the darkness because she had been surviving and had even come close to functioning in a way.

Dark eyes filled what was left of her dwindling vision as the Predator dropped her to the ground. Kathy gave a low and long gasp for air as she lay defenseless on her side. It clicked at her as her eyes watered. She was struck by how much everything burned. The air that entered her abused lungs burned her eyes, throat, and stomach. Her mind was still cloudy and her movements next to non-existent as her body scrambled to regain control of itself.

The shrill beeping of her tag, shrieked at her to get up. Kathy turned her face away from her tormentor, as she slowly moved to her knees. Her gaze darted up to see him contemplating something before he yanked her up to her unsteady feet. The skulled predator ripped the tag from around her neck. Kathy screamed as the jolt of energy tore through her system. It was far worse than it had been when she'd made her frail attempt at removing it.

The Predator said nothing as it watched her writhe in pain. Kathy's mind tried to compensate for what was happening. Ysabel's face flashed in her mind. Her hardened voice echoed through Kathy's thoughts without mercy. It was a grave insult that this Predator had dared to touch her. She was the trophy of Deuub.

Weakly, she saw the Predator flare its mandibles at the symbol on her tag. Its inky black eyes flicked over her body once, and lingered back on the tag that no longer beeped its protest. It occurred to her that he was contemplating something, and the dread pooling in her veins told her it was not a good thing.

'_Males that cannot attract females, or who cannot breed sometimes attack other Yaujta out of frustration or anger._' The Ysabel in her head reminded her neutrally. Kathy quivered at the way he had looked at her. Horror grew in her chest and spread outward as the thought occurred to her that the way he had looked at her, had not been borne solely out of the urge to kill her. She attempted to convince herself that he wouldn't. She only bore the supposed rank of an 'unbloodied' Yaujta. She was still a human, and that was like a deer to them. Hunters didn't force themselves on deer.

'_Unless_', her mind interrupted her rationalization quickly, '_they were sick to begin with_ _or_ _they didn't care about 'honor' anymore_.'

'_Bad blood_,' she thought semi-hysterical. That is why he had touched her when all others steered clear of her. That is why he-

The Predator crushed her tag in his hand. She watched in horrified fascination as the bits tumbled to the ground. It clicked at her. It smelled her, its large head looming near her skin and Kathy flinched. There was no reasoning with this creature, had she even possessed the words to do it. This was a Predator; it did not give mercy or show empathy. If he was a bad blood, he would have had to do something to be cast out from a culture of monsters.

What did that make him?

How long had it even been here? Was it exiled? And, if it was, how long had it been since he'd seen a female? Even if Kathy was a human, she possessed what his culture would consider a Yaujta title of sorts. She, like the other soft women, had been brought into the society. She very well might be the closest thing to a Yaujta female he'd seen in years.

Heaven help her.

It growled at her, displeased by her smell. She was unattractive to one of his senses. Her mind bubbled with some form of childish relief and glee. The Predator dropped her unceremoniously. She thudded against the ground, her hand landing in some of the yellow blood of the beast he had killed. She turned her gaze away, her mind focusing on the sensation in her hand, when he slammed his weight on top of her. Kathy screamed in earnest.

This was sick. He had to be sick, she thought groggily. They weren't even the same species and she didn't think they had parts that could work the same way. If it had wanted to destroy her, she would've understood. That was part of their so called honor, to hunt and kill. This was…she did not know what this was!

Rape was not about sex, but power in her culture. She had no way to know what it meant in his, if there even was such a thing. Ysabel had made it quite clear that the females ruled. It was not a fair contest. Kathy felt like a small child trying to fight against a heavyweight champion. She yanked at the tentacles and the thing about tore her arm off in recompense.

She howled as his sharp nails scratched at her skin, tearing at her clothing. She prayed to die, to be saved, and for a miracle.

OoOoOo

It was Deuub that found her when he skulked out of the bushes as if he owned the planet. No doubt he had been drawn to her location in the camp when her tag had been removed. His questioning chattering halted when he saw her. She was covered in sickly yellow blood, phosphorescent green blood, and clutching a glaive as if it was her lifeline. He tilted his head at her as the other hunters arrived, slick with blood themselves. They chattered amongst each other, their curiosity piqued. She could hear the drips of liquid off of their fingertips as it pattered to the ground. The drops of blood soon became rivulets.

The hunt had gone well, she surmised absently. She licked dry lips as she blinked slowly. She wondered if it would still be there. When she opened her eyes, she noted that it was still there and still painfully real. She could still taste the blood upon her lips.

The beast 's corpse was still there, and the pack members made gestures at it.

A Predator lay dead at her feet. Her eyes locked onto the corpse and Kathy knew the head was around here somewhere. She could never forget its savage eyes as it had attempted to force itself on her. It was the second worse moment in her life. The first would always be reserved to learning that Earth no longer existed.

She felt numb, as if this was all some sort of terrible dream. She swiped at the mingling splotches of blood on her cheek. She wanted to rid herself of any trace of the bad blood, but she would have to wait. There was nothing to clean herself with yet. There was only the memory of his cruel claws causing her pain, his weight firmly pressed upon her, and the bleak certainty of the future.

Kathy wondered if she would die for this.

Deuub walked toward her, she could hear his steps as he made no move to hide them from her, head held high and mandibles flared slightly. She did not react, she kept her head down and eyes glued to the dead alien. She could tell he had questions, but Kathy's mind had yet to sort out the answers. Deuub reached for something to the side of her. His large hand snagged in the flesh-like braids of the severed head and he pulled it up to inspect it.

So that is where it had been. Kathy did not make a sound as he tore the glaive away from her hands. She gave it up without protest. She could only listen as the clicked to a pack member, and her sense of protection was in the hands of another.

His black eyes wandered from the head appraisingly, to Kathy who stood mute and unmoving. Deuub roared, either in anger or approval; she didn't know. Honestly, at the moment she did not care. All she could do was take comfort in the knowledge that the thing was dead. Dead, but he would haunt her for untold days and nights to come. She knew that dreams would not be her friend for a while yet. She counted herself fortunate that the vile bastard hadn't been able to get very far.

Her Predator grabbed her roughly, and inhaled deeply. He grew increasingly upset and she knew why. Scratches were in her skin, bruises already formed turning parts of her to different hues of color, her clothing was in tatters, and she could tell he understood what might have taken place. She understood her could likely smell it on her. She must reek of desperation, fear, and the dead male. His trophy had been touched by another and that was a very bad thing.

He hissed and snapped at her in his native tongue and Kathy was not certain what he expected her to do. Or what he might have expected her to say. He wanted something from her though, and it likely involved words. She worked her mouth, but her throat could not allow noise through. She was too inside herself to explain, and to defend what he might do to an innocent person found in the wrong place or wrong time.

Her eyes locked with the dead orbs of the severed head briefly. Kathy felt suddenly afraid, though she did not understand why.

After all, she hadn't been the one to kill him.

**Translations:**

Bhu'ja? vayuh'ta h'dui'se h'dlak. Nanku, sei-I: Ghost? The Air smells of fear. Alive, yes. This is loosely translated because the literal meaning is. Ghost/Spirit/Soul? Air Smell/Scent/musk/odor Fear. Alive, yes.

Glaive: Basically a two sided Axe that can fold inward.


	12. Chapter 12

**Thank you to all those that have read, reviewed, and even liked the story! I greatly appreciate it. I know there was some questions as to who killed the predator, and that will be answered in this chapter.**

**I own nothing, rated M for suggestive themes and strong language.**

OoOoOo

She was aware in her mind, but her body would not respond. Kathy wasn't herself, and hadn't been herself since she'd read that damn list. It had gotten worse with her isolation, and subsequent attack upon her person. If she had tears left, she might've cried. She could have, but she was no longer aware of her body as she once had been.

Deuub led her back to the ship roughly. His grip was unforgiving around her wrist. She had secretly reveled in it before, and now she felt nothing.

Absolute nothingness except for the creeping numbness which worked through her body as she followed behind the towering alien that she had been told was her 'owner' and 'mate'. She expected to feel the familiar weight of loathing on her thoughts when it came toward Deuub. Or the desperation that lined her thoughts when he, as her only contact outside of her four walls, was away. Instead, her mind was conflicted. She both did and did not want his touch.

After the trauma she'd just been through, part of her wanted nothing to do with his skin on hers, or anyone's. She did not want to be touched, but juxtaposed to that was the driving force to be near someone. To find safety in no longer being alone, as her psyche was still somewhat damaged from her isolation. She'd only seen another living being to be fed, or as Deuub cleaned his skulls. It was no life that she lived now.

She wanted the touch, even just this simple one, in its platonic form. Deuub was not a bad blood, and as such found no attraction to her. It helped slightly for her to remain in her lull of shock. She would not let anything inside her little barrier of new found near-catatonia. However, her mind reminded her that she also wanted nothing to do with his touch.

She did not want to be touched. However, she also had no choice if she still wanted to live.

He marched her back to his room, her little cell. He growled and snarled the whole way, shoving open the door to what Kathy called the 'bathroom' impatiently.

His hands roughly stripped her, and had Kathy been more in her faculties she would have voiced some sort of protest. Yet, at this moment, she remained mute. Water, or some water like substance, doused her skin. Kathy could only blink in reaction as Deuub, with the same concentration he always showed; meticulously began to scrub her skin. She blankly watched the blood swirl around her feet as the water drained. It was still strange to her, to see blood with such vivid colors.

Some caustic smelling liquid was poured on her. He skin tingled as his scaled hands grabbed a cloth she'd seen him used dozens of times before. She stood unmoving, as he cleaned her skin all the while muttering to himself in that guttural voice of his. His pitch changed when he noticed the damage to her legs, arms, and back.

She did not understand the words, but the tone was clear enough.

For a moment, his fingers traced the edges of her wounds almost gently, like a caress. Some might have found this care of her body to show some form of consideration or even affection. Kathy knew better, he was cleaning his trophy, and surveying the damage to his property. Still, her skin prickled under this almost tender touch. If she was a foolish woman, she might have allowed herself to close her eyes and pretend for even a moment that she was not alone.

However, she knew reality would only be a hundred times worse if she did. Instead she chose to stay within the fragile mental walls that had naturally erected to distance her from the situation. She shivered involuntarily as his fingers traced the scratches up the side of her neck. He clicked to himself angrily, and Kathy continued to look down at nothing but, what she called, the shower basin.

He shoved the cloth in her face, and she barely had time to draw breath before he was scrubbing the soft flesh with the same intensity he had given her arms and back. It stung. Everything throbbed. Everything felt heavy and unmanageable.

She hurt, and in more ways than one.

The lukewarm water was then rinsing her face and she kept her eyes screwed shut. She did not want to see more blood or risk getting the cleanser in her eyes. She had no idea what it was, but it was not what he normally provided for her baths. Naked, wet, and starting to tremble from her ordeal, Kathy mutely tolerated his continued scrubbing.

It was as if they both felt she could not be clean enough after what had happened.

She wanted to hate him. She wanted to howl at him about how it was his fault that this had even happened, but she was bone-weary. Her mind cocooned around itself and she said nothing. She wanted another woman present, she wanted human companionship, she wanted off of this blasted ship, and she wanted to be free of this accursed species.

But what she wanted did not matter, not anymore.

Her skin turned red in protest to his continued harsh treatment, but though it caused Kathy pain; she hardly felt it. She stared at the back of her eyelids, and fought just to continue to breathe and keep the images of the skulled predator out of her thoughts. Some breaths she succeeded, and some she did not,

She could still feel the weight of him on her body as she struggled. She had to breathe in again.

Deuub chittered angrily as he traced a few more wounds on her right leg.

Another breath to steady her as the memories came pouring in like a summer rain.

Kathy had howled in fear, screaming for help through silent and ominous trees. Her fingernails breaking as she clawed at the Bad blood's face. His mandible snapped closed over her hand, and she could feel him licking her fingers. It was sick and so very wrong. His large hand came down on her-

Her predator moved the cloth and cleanser over her hip and Kathy's mind baulked at the similarities between him and the skulled predator. No, not similar, but the touches were equally as impersonal. She rationally understood that the Bad blood hadn't truly wanted her, but to hurt her for what had happened to it. That made sense. That had to be the reason. Didn't it? There _had_ to be a reason? She could not handle the thought otherwise.

Her fingers flexed and curled at her sides uselessly. She could still remember the sensations as she reached blindly for a weapon that could not be found. She slapped the face of the alien which proved ineffectual. He had pulled back, ready to cause her harm. The low whistle of something rending the air as the Skull Predator roared in pain. His weight was suddenly lifted from her, and Kathy continued to screech as vibrant green blood splattered across her face. It landed on her clothes, and hair. It was everywhere.

Deuub finally appeared satisfied as he smelled her again. Kathy ingloriously stood there like one of his dead skulls as he dried her. His clicking had dramatically stopped and she said nothing as the touch of the drying cloth caused her some pain. It was abrasive, and her freshly scrubbed skin reminded her what was going on as she started to rise back to the surface of her thoughts.

It had all happened so fast, she wasn't sure what had even occurred. One moment she was in the dirt, trying to keep herself from a brutal fate, and the next someone very strong had grabbed her up. She was on her feet, and praying vertigo would be a kind mistress, as something heavy was shoved in her hands. Kathy lurched with the weight of it. Her eyes stared cautiously at a weapon she did not recognize. Curiosity and disbelief were etched on her face as her troubled eyes looked up at the towering form of her savior.

Tusks, jutting out of a mask that was heavily damaged, filled her vision. Another Predator tilted its head at her, and Kathy stopped her eyes just short of the area where its mouth would be. '_Mandibles_,' her mind had corrected absently. The predator was massively bulky, and Kathy trembled at the sight of him. Her eyes turned over the large scars covering the majority of his body. Hardly any part of his skin remained untouched by heavy scarring. Her mind could not comprehend what could have caused so much damage. A strange heavy snuffling came from her side and Kathy stared in horror at the large animal she'd failed to see before. Tusks protruded from all over its body, gray and dark skin twisted over the creature. It almost appeared to be a cross between some sort of boar, a porcupine, and a dog.

It growled at her, and she froze up staring that the beast.

The Predator did not even truly acknowledge her otherwise. It reached for the bad blood's severed head and hissed at it angrily, a strange popping noise followed the normal clicks. Kathy wondered if his face was as damaged as the rest of his body. A pang of sorrow, a truly human form of sympathy, rang in her heart. Not for the Predator, but for the life that would leave something that had to hunt for rank and status. She doubted Female Predators favored the disfigured. Her thoughts wandered briefly, due to her state of lingering shock and stress, to the old tale of the Hunchback of Notre Dame.

A snarl emanated from behind the charred mask, and Kathy lowered her head out of reflex. It tossed the felled Predator's head as if it were a rotten peach. Kathy heard it thud upon the ground, the sickening cracking of the bones as it impacted, and refused to look for it. The tusked predator growled for a long period of time.

"_M'di yin'tekai, m-di h'chak,"_ his tone was disgusted, as far as Kathy could tell. It would explain why he did not take the head as a prize and chose to smash it instead. She stood rooted to the spot she was in, clutching the heavy weapon he had given her. She could barely hold it, and she knew if he wanted her to fight him she would surely die.

Yet, she waited. Like an idiot in a home-produced horror movie, she stood there awaiting her fate. Perhaps part of her had already been damaged beyond repair, if she was willing to stay here akin to a docile animal? However, her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of it coming toward her, a low rumble reciprocated in kind by the strange beast near her. The shuffling of one foot caught her attention as her eyes watched the Tusked Predator come closer.

One of his legs, his left, he favored. Kathy felt welling sorrow build for the giant. He was slightly crippled and if she recalled correctly, that made him an outcast in his own right like the bad blood. She could not recall why Ysabel had called it a bad thing, but only that it was worthy of ridicule. Kathy had been deeply perturbed that this society did not even honor those that had been wounded beyond repair or healing in a 'hunt'. No, they made them servants to be mocked daily.

She wanted to despise this one as she did the others, but the negative feelings would not come. She felt gratitude, and a growing sense of empathy toward the Predator. Kathy knew that it was not correct to feel such emotions about something that was part of the species that had destroyed Earth and countless lives. Yet, that strong sense of budding indebtedness toward the Tusked-one was more troubling than being grateful.

But, it was there and undeniable.

It had saved her, protected her. However, it had given her a weapon. Ysabel had warned her that they only hunt worthy prey, and worthy prey was not unarmed prey. She hoped he did not want her to provide him with a hunt. Even crippled, she was no match for the hulking Predator.

His hand reached up for her face, and Kathy was certain he was going to strike her or kill her. She did not even bother to ask why, because she honestly did not understand them. Her grip tightened reflexively on the axe-like weapon. Her fingers were tired and her palms were clammy. Still, she held fast. She kept her eyes averted as one of his fingers pushed her head from side to side. He looked her over. His thumb ran softly through the blood on her cheek, smearing it.

She did her best to not make a sound. Her mind wondered quietly if he had been one of the Predator police before he was made lame. The beast huffed at its master, and the Predator clicked softly. Whether it was at her or the animal, she did not know.

She both wanted, and did not want him to stop touching her. There was reassurance in the simple touch, but her skin crawled in revulsion at another laying hands upon her person.

Finally he dismissed her as not to his liking, or not worth the effort to kill, she supposed. Then again, she was one lone female human and not a warrior like Ysabel. Kathy did not have the same feeling that the bad blood had caused her. She was not prey to him, but a curiosity. Kathy was a frail thing that should not exist on this planet and though he did not say anything to her, his stance conveyed his opinion of the situation at hand. The tusked Predator was alone with a human, a sentient being that no longer had a home planet. He appeared undecided on what to do with her and she was certain that there was no protocol for this. At least, Ysabel had never mentioned this sort of thing happening.

What had so many predators been doing on the planet's surface? Were they in conflict? Kathy recalled something being mentioned about hunting rights and clan feuds but her fuzzy mind could not recall the specifics of it. There had to be a reason this planet was so obviously popular. Her eyes strayed slightly upward and she peeked up at the Predator feeling suddenly exposed. She did not understand why she needed to look at him. It was only a second or two, but she risked a great deal just by raising her gaze.

He rumbled at her, and her eyes dropped to the ground. She'd only glimpsed his visor, cracked and broken. Like the rest of him, and Kathy wondered what had happened to him. She nearly shook her head to rid herself of the train of thought. It was dangerous, and she only knew that on instinct. She could not entertain such vile thoughts or ideas.

She might feel gratitude for him saving her, but she forced herself to ignore the strings of emotions that should only be extended toward another human.

'_Stop_,' her mind hissed at her. Logically, she called this stress due to the situation and the never ending loneliness. It was only inevitable that she would try to form some sort of emotional bond with someone. Something, really, the Predators were not her people. Yet, that did not make the emotions any less real. She could feel her heart flutter in her chest as it beat wildly. She was afraid, terrified even, of this Alien and the strange vicious beast at its side. She was defenseless barring a weapon she could not even truly lift and had just been nearly ravaged by another of his kind. To top all of that, she was still a living trophy of yet another of his ilk.

But, he'd saved her and showed her a nearly imperceptible modicum of decency. Not kindness, no his kind was incapable of that, but decency was possible. Or she thought it had to be for what he'd shown her. Kathy did not know what they called it. To her it was decency, to him it could have been a matter of 'honor'. He was still likely to kill her; in the unlikely event she posed a threat, maybe. He did not seem terribly interested in her at all. She watched in fascination as he turned to leave. He favored that infirm leg and she felt a twinge of emotion toward him. Her fingers twitched around the weapon for a moment, unsure of what to do.

She watched the beast trail after its master.

"Thank you," her voice was throaty and hoarse from her screams after disuse for so long. She watched his back, unable to risk looking up any higher as he paused. "For saving me," her throat tightened at the words. They had murdered her people, enslaved any future yound from her loins, and kept her as less than a pet. But, here she was, thanking one of them for helping her.

She was human, after all.

He made an irritated sound, and she knew that he hadn't been trying to save her. It was far more likely the disgusting act the creature had sought to perform on her had caused the Tusked-one to kill it. He continued on, as if she had said nothing.

"Thank you," she repeated again, feeling as if she could not say it enough. If she had been raped, it would have broken her far beyond what she had become already. "Hunter," she said the title softly, she repeated the word Ysabel had told her meant status and respect, unsure if it was the right thing to say. Unsure of what he would do to her if it was not.

He turned back toward her slowly, his chest rumbling, and she kept her eyes averted. Kathy stayed in a submissive posture, her head bent over the weapon he'd given her for reasons she did not understand, and tone as sincere as she felt.

She could feel his gaze upon her, and she shivered at it. Whatever he was searching for, he found and clicked at her twice before leaving. Not even his shuffled footsteps to keep her company. Kathy stood there without the benefit of knowing what would happen next, but he'd given her a chance. Tears she was not even aware of gather in her eyes, but refused to fall.

She stood there without another sound, replaying the horrific events in her mind over and over again. She analyzed each moment with painstaking clarity. Her mind understanding and comprehending all that had just occurred. Her body shook and she receded into herself. She needed to protect herself from any more of this.

That is how Deuub had found her. Her attention snapped back to all that was around her. She was still in Deuub's room only now she was being dressed in some spare clothing. It was scratchy to her skin, still sensitive from its vigorous scrubbing. She wasn't even looking at Deuub, she was staring at the wall, or rather through the wall to the lush plant life outside.

She was struck by the realization that she wanted to see the Tusked-one again, and the mounting horror that she felt just the tiniest bit sentimental toward him.

She could never reveal that to Deuub. She had some idea what might happen if she did, and she pretended it was because he had not asked, that she had not volunteered the information. However, in her heart of hearts she knew she would never tell him even if he were to ask.

Deubb was her jailor, and the Tusked-one had been her rescuer.

And, she knew, once they left this planet, she might never see the Tusked-one ever again. Perhaps that was for the best, the way her chest panged at the thought of his absence.

OoOoOo

**Translations**:

M'di yin'tekai, m-di h'chak: No honor, no mercy.


	13. Chapter 13

**Hi! Thank you to all those that have read, reviewed, and even liked the story! I greatly appreciate it. **

**I own nothing, rated M for suggestive themes and strong language.**

OoOoOo

She hadn't been this restless since the first day on the ship. She paced. She stared out the window at the lush jungle. She watched the rain as it poured softly, then harder, only to pitter out into nothingness. She scratched at her arms, the scabs itching uncomfortably on her skin. A reminder to her of what had happened, and of the Tusked-one that had helped her.

She shouldn't think about him. She shouldn't, but she did. Kathy knew she was romanticizing what had happened out there with only the foliage as her witness. She _knew_ it, and yet she could not stop herself. Some part of her obviously needed something to cling to. She ruffled her uneven hair in exasperation. She was tense and pensive. Her eyes lingered to the scenery outside the window once more.

'_Is he even still alive_?' She mind traitorously pondered with genuine concern twining like a snake around her thoughts.

She replayed that horrid day again in her mind for what had to be the thousandth time. Yet, she could not stop seeing it all in great detail. The memory was crisp and sharp to her troubled state of being. She ran a hand through her hair again, sighing softly. She had so many unanswered questions. Had he known about her honorary status when he saved her? No, the tag had been destroyed and that symbol marked her as Deuub's. Had he done it out of decency? Perhaps, the Predator's had a code of honor and while Kathy did not understand it in its entirety, surely rescuing a female was somewhere in there? No, Ysabel had made it clear that only a very foolish male would ever even consider attacking a Yaujta female.

Except, such a rule of thumb did not apply here because Kathy was only human and not Yaujta.

Her silhouette was one of thoughtful yearning for understanding. She picked at a scab absently. Her body along with her thoughts had failed to settle since Deuub had finished his careful ministrations upon his 'trophy'. Kathy hadn't spoken a word to him, and Deuub had not ever asked a single question. He had likely drawn all the conclusions he needed, but she was bereft of the same courtesy.

It bothered her that though she wanted to know 'why?', she cared more to know what had happened to that mysterious Predator to leave him so badly off. What had he been hunting? Had it been an accident or a battle to the death? It had obviously involved some sort of heat source judging by the charred look of his visor.

Her heart fluttered gently beneath her ribs. Kathy scowled at the empty room. The Skulls smiling back at her eerily. Her eyes wandered toward them disheartened. She had to stop thinking like this. It changed nothing, and helped nothing.

The door hissed as it slid open, Kathy no longer even jumped at the sound. She felt nothing toward what had once been a welcomed reprieve. She had the inclination that Deuub noticed her distance, though she had no evidence to that fact. Frankly, she did not care anymore what he may or may not be thinking. It had been almost a game, in her isolation, to ponder what was going on in that strangely large head of his. Now, it could not even occupy the tiniest fraction of her attention.

She'd tried many things in her captivity to keep her mind from fraying more than it already had. She thought of her loved ones, and sometimes she'd think about conversations they should have had. Sometimes she thought of poems, songs, things that involved lyrics she could recite. However, staying wholly herself had ceased being an option as time continued to pass her by.

Now her thoughts were nearly consumed. What had happened needed to be processed, but Kathy feared she was starting to obsess. She reigned in her daydreams of freedom when she'd seen the strange beasts on this planet. No, this planet was far more dangerous than the one she had been dumped on with the other women.

Everything seemed so much stronger than her, so much more skilled or dangerous. Everything could kill her and it left Kathy with a heavy feeling of helplessness. She was not a warrior, or even trained. And, she realized with a sense of finality, there was no one to teach her.

A trophy did not need to know how to defend itself. No, but Kathy knew a great deal about being bait now. A spike of disgust surged high at Deuub, who stood in the room surveying his wall.

He came to clean his skulls, as he always had and still he said nothing. This was their exact ritual as Kathy defined it. However, she kept herself toward the window; her eyes flickered toward the world outside more often than the floor. Even with her head bent, she turned slightly away from him. It was barely perceptible, but to her it felt like the largest rebellion she'd ever attempted.

He set about retrieving his largest skull, and the items he needed for its continued upkeep and care. Kathy's mind wandered back to the strange popping noises at the end of the Tusked-one's clicks. Her thoughts lingered on the way he moved, lame but with a sense of authority that his entire race appeared capable of. The prickling of warning on the nape of her neck caused her to tear her eyes away from the window. She looked at the unchanging floor. Like her life of rooms and door, the floor was her constant companion.

He was observing her. Kathy could feel his eyes on her, and she remained nearly perfectly impassive. Only the steady rising and lowering of her chest gave away the fact that she was still alive behind the mask of stillness.

Her mind shifted, pulling her from frivolous thoughts to the reality that she could be sealing her doom if something was not to his liking. He simply watched her, for what reason she was unable to fathom. However, a Predator did nothing without reason or 'honor'.

A hulking and massively scared body flashed through her mind. She shoved such a foolish notion out of her mind quickly. She could not and would not allow the sickening feelings of sentimentality toward that creature grow. Kathy clenched her teeth together, taking care not to appear angry under Deuub's gaze.

He clicked softly, and Kathy was unsure if he was doing the Predator equivalent of talking to himself or to her.

She wondered idly what they were still even doing on this planet. Kathy did not know for how much longer they would remain here. She wanted to stay, part of her twisting uncomfortably at the knowledge they would have to leave. Part of her, though she had already tried and failed to quell it, did not want to go.

She understood the thoughts she had were foolish ones. After all there could be nothing between the two species and they were so vastly different. Heck, she wasn't even certain their amino acids could even combine, regardless of what Deuub had implied with that whole stealing her eggs business.

Kathy felt herself itch under his gaze. She wasn't certain when it had started, though she still longed for socialization, but she did not want to be around Deuub. It was far more in line with what she'd felt upon first meeting him, however he had become an anchor of sorts along the way out of desperation on her part. Now, she wanted next to nothing to do with him if he did not have food in hand for her.

It struck her out of nowhere and left her a little shocked at the line of thought. She did not even try to get closer to him as she had but days ago. Her eyes widened slightly. Had he noticed? It occurred to her that he might be watching her because her pattern had changed. Perhaps near death and near-rape did not equate to much mental trauma to his kind. Kathy was human, and honestly, she was startled that she wasn't more tortured by the experience.

Oh, she still had woken herself up from nightmares with her own screams; but it was as if her mind had simply shut down toward many parts of her situation. She could occasionally forget the putrid stench of the crazed bad blood, dripping with the wet gore of the slain beast. Sometimes she was even able to reflect on the moment he licked her fingers without gagging or crying. Still, she would hear that whistle, feel him being lifted from her as if it were physically happening again. She could still taste the blood on her lips, and feel the terror well inside of her.

She could hear her voice nearly crack as she thanked a Predator for saving her.

She wished the planet had held humans instead of beasts and monsters.

Dimly, she recognized the small burning of hope in her breast that had grown stronger. She needed to see the other humans. The driving force for her continued existence had not faded. She had to stay with Deuub for the chance to do that, so why did she feel as if she were convincing herself on occasion? He was vital to her shoestring plan of seeing the last of her kind thrive once more. Logically, if she had to choose one alien to foster any sort of kinship with it should be him.

It wasn't him that made her stare absently at the window during all hours of the day or night. It wasn't Deuub that caused her to feel this large amount of self-doubt and loathing. The strange sense of warmth that wormed in her stomach did not come from thinking about her captor. Her mind did not produce daydreams about seeing his shimmer in-between the trees.

Kathy very nearly sighed again. What was happening to her? What was _wrong_ with her?

As if he could read her thoughts, Deuub shifted back to his trophy as he dismissed her. Kathy breathed in relief. Whatever he'd wanted she had not upset him by not giving it to him. She said nothing, but her eyes strayed out toward the window once more.

What had that beast been by his side? She had never seen the like before. Subconsciously, she shifted away from Deuub without even noticing. She heard him click, but thought nothing of it. Her eyes reflecting just how far away from this room she was in her mind. She wondered what planet that animal was from. Was it this one? Or was it another? Where would that planet be in relation to where Earth had been?

Earth brought a fresh wave of sorrow in its wake. It reminded her of a time that was dangerous to remember as she walked the razor thin edge between sanity and unending darkness.

She missed them, she thought of the women she'd met briefly in her time on and off that strange planet they'd been 'hunted' on. She missed every last damn one of them. She thought of Susan, Nirmala, Renata, Joan, Whitmore, and the countless nameless women she'd seen before they'd scatter like leaves to the wind.

The pang of worry and longing filled her. She wanted to know what happened to them. Where they alright? Would any of them ever be alright again?

Deuub had finally finished, and his movement to put his things away caused Kathy's mind to stir her back from the realm of self-reflection. He seemed uninterested, but some strange form of intuition cautioned her not to move or make a sound. She kept her eyes averted from him and head bowed. This was the part of the act her life had become and she would play it to perfection if she wished to live, even against the largest distraction or her thoughts.

He turned to look at her again, something he never did. Kathy wisely gave nothing away of her mounting concern that he was acting strangely. Then again, so was she. Under normal circumstances, the ones where she wasn't being held as a living trophy for a bunch of murderous Predators that were just looking for an excuse to kill her, she would have dismissed it.

She could afford to dismiss nothing given her situation. Her eyes flickered back to the window, deeply wishing she'd run when she'd had the chance. Even to die by a beast and be its dinner might have been preferable to this.

Kathy briefly allowed herself to ponder what had become of the weapon the Tusked-one had given her. She swallowed with difficulty, sensing her attachment to the object. This was spiraling out of control. She rubbed at her eyebrow, trying to ward off the building headache. She wanted to go back on the planet's surface; it was a truly stupid want. However, the more she thought about it, the more she wanted to do it.

"Well, isn't this interesting?" She whispered to herself forlornly.

The skulls seemed to smile their amusement at her. Kathy turned her body away from them and the cloying smell of whatever Deuub used to clean them. She waited for nothing, and something. Her soft breaths were the only sound in the room. She felt as if she was lost in a tide, being pulled in all directions.

Deuub returned shortly, and she was surprised by it. He never came back this quickly, her eyes lowered again, and she shifted her body to face him. Her face was a mask of apathy so as not to upset him in anyway. Behind him another Predator trailed. Her sense of danger spiked one hundred fold at the newcomer. Her body's reaction was instantaneous. Her heart sped up, her limbs flooded with adrenaline as they began to shake. Her breathing hitched in her throat. Yet, she still barely managed to sit still.

She still wasn't quite over her encounter with the bad blood. Damn you Pavlov.

They clicked at each other, and Kathy disliked the noise only because she did not know what they were saying. It chattered with Deuub and they made one or two gestures that she caught out of the corner of her eye. She locked her vision forward. Kathy did not even attempt to look at the second Predator more than she absolutely had to.

"Speak," It commanded of her.

Kathy froze, not even daring to blink. Her mind scrambled at what to say. Who did she say it to? Ysabel had told her to speak to Deuub. Her brows furrowed momentarily, and she puffed out a bit of air. Her heart leapt in her throat as the 'now or never' feeling crashed through her.

She minutely moved her head in Deuub's direction.

"Forgive me," she said quietly, "I do not understand." It sounded diplomatic enough to possibly save her neck… or spine.

Deuub said nothing, and she resented him for it. She was struggling and felt like a bleeding seal in open water with a shark.

"_Explain what happened with the Bad Blood in the camp."_ The larger one rumbled as if she had not spoken.

She stilled, a flash of the rage in the Bad blood's eyes and the feel of him on her flittered through her mind, at his words. She focused in on one interesting fact. They didn't know everything that had transpired or they wouldn't be here demanding to know what she knew. She felt the rising urge to protect the Tusked-one just in case. He had made it possible for her to keep her dignity and she could risk her life for that. As foolish as it sounded, she would lie to them for the Tusked-one.

"I was taken to the camp, as you call it, and placed as bait there." She fought to keep the look of unadulterated disgust from her features, her eyes instinctually wanted to narrow but she could not allow her feelings to betray her now. "For a while nothing happened," except she had felt real air on her body and the sun's rays had kissed her face. She bit the inside of her cheek vying to shove down the rising emotions at recollecting her story. "Then a large… animal," she tested the word for a moment, "came out of nowhere." Her brow furrowed because she did not know why the animal had found her or how.

"_The Beast came to you?" _The older one clicked curiously as he questioned her.

"No," she denied toward Deuub as she answered the Predator's question. "Not at first. I think I made a sound or a noise and then it came after me.

The Predator chittered at Deuub who clicked something back for several moments they had a conversation she was not privy to.

"_Then?"_

Kathy swallowed with a suddenly parched throat. She hated this part of the memory. "Then it charged me, but I had closed my eyes-"

They chuffed as if she had said something mildly amusing.

"-and the beast stopped. I did not know why, so I looked again." So far she had only told the absolute truth fearing reprisal, but her story was swiftly coming to a point she would have to change it. She did not know what they knew, and that was a large gamble.

"That was when I saw… the bad blood." Her gaze flickered further down and away from them. Her body tensed even more and she feared she might break one of her bones if she moved. They snarled in unison. It seemed that the distaste of the creature was mutual between them all.

She loathed having something in common with them.

"_I have been told you were touched_," it wasn't a question but a statement.

She fought for breath. "Yes," she said, nearly inaudible.

"_It attempted to kill you_?"

Kathy nodded, momentarily unable to speak. Deuub chattered angrily with harsh clicks and guttural hissing.

"_There is more_."

"Yes," she replied finding her voice, though it was small. "He seemed overly interested in my tag-the item around my neck," her hand moved to accentuate her point.

Silence prevailed in the room.

"He looked at it, and then he looked at me. He crushed the tag," her head lowered even more, allowing her hair to cover her face. "Then he tried to…mate with me."

A roar rent the air, as Deuub vented his fury at the thought or perhaps it was disgust.

"_You are certain, the bad blood attempted to mate with you_?"

She thought it was a stupid question. It was a little hard to get mixed signals from _that_ sort of situation. She was not suicidal, and did not voice her opinion. She chose instead to nod.

"_He did not succeed. What stopped him?"_

She could hear his implication. Kathy found a strange sense of composure as she reflected on what someone like Ysabel would say.

"His head being separated from his shoulders," she answered coldly and hollowly.

Deuub clicked over what, she didn't know.

"_How was his head separated from his shoulders?"_

"By one of your weapons," she hadn't actually seen what had killed him, but it was a good guess. "The one that looks like an axe," she added as an afterthought.

"_Where did you get the weapon_?"

"From him." It was the truth; she simply neglected to say who 'he' was. Kathy could feel her anxiety grow as she answered questions she did not want to. "You appear to know my language very well," she said docilely attempting to not raise his suspicions anymore. She dared not ask him anything, she was below the children and she damn well remembered it.

She prayed it would work.

"_I have survived over one thousand hunts, some of them human. I have learned much in that time._" His presence to her was terrifying, but Kathy reflected on his words. Just how long had he been alive? Over one thousand hunts still sounded like something worthy of respect, especially if they all hunted dangerous 'game'. However old he was, she knew two things. One she could not risk giving herself or the Tusked on away, and two; he could break her like a Kit-Kat bar.

She kept her attention on the Ancient Predator, while directing her responses at Deuub. It had proven safe before and she was sticking with that.

"_How did you get a hold of the weapon?"_

"He tackled me, my hands were searching for something as his…as he… licked me." She could feel her face flame in embarrassment, though she had no reason to be embarrassed. She had done nothing wrong, but a tiny part of her blamed herself for not fighting harder. She turned her head away from them, trying to hide the fear mounting in her eyes.

"Then the other beast came," she recollected the Tusked-one's companion.

A quiet rumble greeted her words.

"_It did not attack you_," there was a velvet snare in the statement and Kathy did her best to appear submissive.

She gave a helpless shake of her head. "I don't know why it didn't." That was wholly the truth. She did not understand why the beast hadn't eviscerated her. For some reason the Tusked-one hadn't wanted to collect her skull as a trophy.

"_There were gore marks in the body, and another set of tracks_." The ancient alien replied unmoved by her response. "_You were helped."_

Kathy chose to remain mute in the face of the revelation she had been trying so hard to hide.

"_You did not achieve the kill on your own_," The Predator rumbled, "_There will be no honor given for it. However, you were within rights to smash the skull."_

She could hear the sound of something being sheathed, and a chill ran up her spine. He would have killed her, a still small voice inside of her warned harshly.

She didn't give a flying flip about what they considered to be honor. She was more concerned about how much they knew of the Tusked-one. The older Predator did not seem upset by the news that she had not achieved the kill alone, and she had the feeling he already knew a great deal before coming to speak with her. She hadn't even touched the weapon with intent to do anything.

She needed to get away from these aliens. Her eyes wandered back to the window once more.

'_Maybe?_' She thought with a plan barely beginning to unfurl in the edges of her mind.


	14. Chapter 14

**Thank you all for reading! Thank you for reviewing. Sorry about the mental images my comparison may have caused you. **

**Rated M, I own nothing, and may be a sensitive topic for some people. I advise you to please stop reading if you become uncomfortable with the subject matter. **

OoOoOo

Of course she should try it. She had to try it. Why hadn't she tried it before? The image of the slain Predator flashed through her mind and she knew already why she hadn't. Part of her had been too far cowed into submission by her own making.

Kathy peeked nervously at the window, her palms clammy and her heart racing. It could not be so simple, could it? She edged closer to the pane of what she hoped was glass nearly afraid it would bite her. That would be uncannily in tune with the rest of her contact with these aliens so far. Her lip twitched in response, her mind made up to at least make the attempt.

Her fingers shook as she clasped them close to her body. Her eyes peered around her for any object which might make due. There was nothing. Deuub did not leave his weapons lying around. He even went so far as to take her trays when she was finished eating, a lesson he had learned when Renata had attempted to escape no doubt.

Skulls, eternally laughing with their gruesome and gleaming teeth, winked at her slyly. She could not. Deuub would kill her. Or there was the chance that she might kill herself trying to lift one of the larger ones. Would bone even compare to the window? Would it work? If it did not, then where would that leave her?

Likely dead. Yet, somehow that still seemed as if it bore more life than what she lived now. It was not an easy decision and not one to she made lightly. Her thin fingers, trembling at the thought, unclasped. She took one step forward, her stride tentative at best. A shiver ran down her spine and she could feel the hair on her arms raise. It was a very bad idea.

And, the only one she had. Though it was foolhardy and brash, Kathy took the plunge. A single finger touched gently upon the porous surface. Cold. It was as cold as she always thought it would be. A whimper of fear, and excitement combined escaped her lips briefly. She almost could not believe she was doing this. Her mangled hair fell partway over her ear from where she had tried in vain to tuck it back. Her eyes narrow in on the sight of a slender human finger on one of Deuub's other precious trophies.

She snatched her hand back quickly, swallowing in fright. It felt wrong to touch them, knowing what she knew about these Predators. It almost felt like a violation of what little rapport she and with Deuub. She shook her head, letting out a small noise of frustration. She shouldn't care about a rapport between them. She wanted to hate him. She despised what his kind had done to hers. Kathy gritted her teeth and took a calming breath while closing her eyes.

Disgusted with herself she turned away, muttering profanities under her breath. She walked back toward the window, her eyes opening with a bitter resentment of herself growing. Weak, that is what Ysabel had called her. It had never seemed as true as it did in this moment. She was mad, and wanted to get angry. She wanted deeply to express that mounting anger at her circumstance. Yet, all she could do was hold the vortex of emotions inside.

There was no one to confide in. No one to trust, and to make matters infinitely worse… she was forced to fight herself over things she should or should not feel. Kathy allowed her head to thud softly against the cool pane of the window.

They would have killed her. The fact was not lost upon her. The Predators still might, if they found out about the Tusked-one. Why did she even care? Kathy wasn't entirely sure. She wanted to believe it was gratitude that caused her to want to protect him, and on a large level it was. She felt out of control, as if she were a puppet without her strings. She'd been kept so long in this damn room. Feeling the touch of the sun upon her skin had been close to sheer heaven. Even almost being raped had not lessened the feeling.

How much more messed up could she get? She almost found being defiled and killed worth it, because if had gotten her out of this miserable hell. For two hours she'd known the closest thing to bliss she could even still imagine. She stared forlornly at the outside world once again.

And failed to bite back the scream of shock which erupted from her throat as Kathy lurched back, her chest heaved in surprise. She lost her balance and tumbled to the floor. She looked forward mutely.

Her wide eyes took in the scene of some strange animal with a starfish shaped mouth sucking at the glass, beating its absurdly small dragon-fly like wings. The oddity of the green and teal furred creature plastered against the window combined with her sudden fright caused Kathy to do something she hadn't done in months.

She laughed.

Truly laughed as if it were the funniest damn thing she'd seen in her life. Her laughter was not refined, but belly laughs that shook her frame as tears gathered in her eyes. She threw her head back and laughed, relieved for a single pure moment in time. She swiped at the tears as she continued to guffaw at her own skittishness.

Heavy foot falls, and loud clicking could be heard in the hallway. Kathy could not stop laughing. Not even when Deuub burst through the door. His wrist guard had a blade of some sort attached to it, and Kathy did her best to try and quell the chuckles that still spilled from her. She covered her mouth with one hand, feeling the pressure in her face as she tried to cease. Her eyebrows moved of their own volition, still expressing her mirth.

He cocked his head to the side for a moment and watched her.

He growled at her, she sobered instantly. Her eyes downward and head bowed. The enjoyment she'd felt seconds ago vanished into thin air. His masked face was still intimidating. Perhaps he would leave to go hunting soon. Her silence in the room almost seemed to damn them both. Deuub stalked forward, graceful and deadly as he had been before. He clicked down at her, and Kathy said nothing.

He smacked the window harshly, and the creature fell off. She winced at the action. Kathy felt saddened at its loss. He turned to leave, back the way he'd come.

She waited with baited breath for him to leave. Once the door had closed, she was struck with the thought that he had been able to hear her quite well. How well did they hear? Granted, she had been screaming and laughing. She mused over the thought for a moment before something occurred to her.

She'd never even bothered to check normally, however the tell-tale beep had failed to issue. It was a long shot, but was the door even locked? It couldn't be that easy, could it? She scooted her body forward slightly as she pushed to her knees. Kathy shuddered at the thought that perhaps she could at the very least see another part of the ship.

Then again, his pack mates would likely be prowling around the ship somewhere, since they had not left for a hunt yet. A least, Kathy did not believe they had gone. Deuub had been able to come back too quickly with her impromptu scream. Kathy weighed the options. The door might not even open, so all of this could be nothing more than a mental fool's errand. Yet, if she could get outside of this room what would she even do? She sincerely doubted some juiced up version of Rambo was going to come swinging in on an alien jungle vein, burst through the window, and carry her away.

Though the thought was highly entertaining, it was also highly impractical. Kathy frowned slightly, her body swaying toward opening the door, or attempting to. She hadn't been able to bring herself to smash the window, because she wasn't even certain what it was made of, with one of Deuub's prized skulls. The bittersweet taste of possibility tantalized her. She could get out of this room, maybe. That would be…more than she could describe and so very welcomed. However, Kathy was completely at a loss as to what to do now.

She entertained the childish hope that the Tusked-one was safe and that he might protect her if they ever encountered each other again. However, her rational side poked and prodded her that such an intervention was never going to occur again. If nothing else, Predators were practical, and Kathy had nothing to offer that would be of any use to him. She couldn't give him Deuub's skulls, though she was certain his below of outrage would be well worth her death.

She shakily rose to her feet, with her eyes trained on the metal that separated her from leaving her little box. She licked her lips nervously, her skin prickling once more. This seemed abundantly stupid as she stumbled slowly toward the door. She reached out with trepidation. Kathy did not know what to do if it opened. Her fingers nearly touched the hard metal surface when it swished open.

Her eyes widened, and her fingers touched Deuub. He filled the doorway, angry chattering already present as Kathy snatched back her hand as if he had burned her. She felt immediately cowed as she stepped backwards.

Silence prevailed between them as she felt her cheeks flush. She hadn't touched him even accidentally since the planet. Her glance slid sideways, and she clasped the offending appendage to her chest tightly.

One of his Pack mates was still chattering as Deuub stared her down. Kathy honestly did not know their names, and other than their armor, she could not tell them apart. She had only seen them once or twice prior. They never entered the room, and though they peered through the spaces that Deuub did not occupy, not one set foot inside of the trophy room. Her prison was his trophy room. It was an acrid thought that made her stomach clench. Her body filled with a hot and uncomfortable sensation.

Kathy stilled at the ambient noise of the other males. She continued to step backwards toward her secret haven of the window with her head lowered. Her face betrayed nothing of the turmoil and longing to flee this accursed room. Six steps away from him. Then eight steps away. Finally her back bumped into the wall and she tried to calm her breathing.

When had she become so bold? She scolded herself for her foolishness. A single touch had likely gotten her killed.

The other males clicked in interest as she remained mute and unmoving before Deuub. One trilled in open curiosity. Deuub growled throatily, Kathy surmised there must have been a warning buried somewhere in the vocals. Thoughts of fleeing died a less than merciful death as she prayed he would not notice a human fingerprint or smell her lingering scent on any of his trophies. She thought that it would be unlikely, however, she wasn't sure. How heightened were their senses from a humans? It was the unknown that frightened her the most.

He continued to watch her from his place in the doorway, as did the others. Kathy resisted the urge to fidget under the gazes. Her uneven hair, covered most of her face as she lowered her head further. It felt like a small barrier between the frail human and three or more hulking Predators.

She focused on breathing.

A few clicks and a strange chuffing filled the air, and soon the another male joined in. Kathy had the distinct impression they had said something about her. Bastards. Deuub chattered something back, and not for the first time, she wished she understood what they were saying. Then again they moved their mandibles a lot when they talked; perhaps she honestly did not want to know.

Sometimes ignorance was bliss.

She stared at the edge of her sleeve. She wondered how long this unanswered staring match would continue this time. It never failed to unnerve her. Humans did not like being stared at by Predators, the aliens or anything that could actually be titled a predator.

She heard the sounds of flesh hitting armor. Her eyes darted out of instinct to the sound; however she kept her face partially hidden by her hair. She could scarcely made out Deuub, and she believed that he struck another one of the hunters. That caused her to feel a knot of tension form in her stomach. She did not want to be present if the two of them were going to start wrestling in the hallway.

Did Predators actually wrestle? She had no idea, but it made for some interesting mental imagery.

"_Kv'var._" A voice she did not recognize rasped dangerously.

Kathy stilled when the Predators did. Her eyes landing forward in front of her once more. Her eyes narrowed briefly at the sound of the word, the near purr at the end of the syllable caused her to shiver slightly.

Deuub growled with his head turned toward the one that uttered the word. His back straightened more and his tentacles puffed up. Whatever that word was, it intrigued Deuub enough to snarl and close the door. Kathy blinked slowly, waiting for them to come back through the door and tear her limb from limb. There was nothing that followed except the eerie silence that reminded her grimly that she was alone once more.

She contemplated the skulls once more as she lifted her head. Kathy glared at them with anger at herself burning brightly within her eyes. Why did she have to cower every time they came? Why did she shut down? She knew why. She was afraid and she hated being afraid, but it wasn't as simple as movies and day time television had made it seem. Yes, anger helped her sometimes quell the worst of the fear, but she could not fight them. There was no hope in her trying to take down a Predator.

She felt bile rise in her throat at the memory of the Bad blood. He'd proven how weak and ineffectual she was. She'd hit him with all her strength, and he hadn't even been fazed. The only thing that had actually garnered a reaction out of him was pulling on those flesh feeling tentacles.

She stumbled, not truly paying attention to her surroundings, toward the bed. She flopped on it without grace, and let her face bury into the furs of some creature she'd rather not dwell on. This is where those that lacked the will to do anything went, she supposed. She could drift off into a peaceful slumber and-

She rolled to her side, struck by a thought that confused her as quickly as it intrigued her. Where did the waste go? The water from when she cleaned herself, and the solid waste that was naturally produced by all humans. It was a large stretch of the imagination, and her mind drifted to various stories she'd heard about people escaping prisons through the sewer systems.

It did not seem like a very appealing idea for obvious reasons. However, if she could manage to find a way out, what would she do then? Reeking of whom only knew what, and stranded on an alien planet with several hunters, vicious animals, and the chance of other bad bloods. It seemed like an inauspicious start to freedom. Kathy sighed in dismay. She could feel the pent up energy inside of her. The twisting need to be away from these creatures and to not allow herself to fall back into the well of near insanity was ever present.

Kathy raised a hand in the air and stared at it as she lay on the bed. What could this human hand do? What did she need to make it do? It clenched into a fist, and she wondered what was really even holding her back anymore. Was this all worth it? Was survival worth this?

So far, she was back to square one with several ideas that she tossed away. There was nothing viable for her here. Her eyes closed in defeat and she allowed her hand to drop to the bed unceremoniously. Kathy felt the weight of exhaustion upon her and she soon was drifting into slumber. Her breathing steady and even, as she wondered what it was that she would need to do to see herself through this.

OoOoOo

She awoke hours later, how many, Kathy did not know she had no sense of time anymore. Days bled into one another, and hours mattered little. She cracked her eyes open slowly, stretching her body. The sound of various pops in her wrist brought her even more into the realm of consciousness. She turned on her side and looked at the room. Deuub had not brought her food recently; Kathy blew out a breath of irritation. She would go hungry this night then. It rarely happened, but it did occur. She would not starve to death from one missed meal, though she would need water sooner or later. Kathy did not trust the washing water enough to drink it. What he normally brought her had always been fine and not left her foaming at the mouth or deathly ill.

Her eyes flicked down, and she sighed again. Languidly she moved, her body felt tight with stress and there was an uncomfortable pulling sensation in her shoulder. She went to rub at the ache. Her neck was as stiff as her fingers. It struck her as strange that the lights weren't on. He had left them on for her since her arrival. Kathy looked around once more.

The whole ship seemed rather quiet.

**Translation:**

Kv'var: Hunt


	15. Chapter 15

**Hi again!**

**Thank you to all that have read and reviewed! **

**Rated M, I own nothing, and may not be suitable for some audiences. **

OoOoOo

The ship seemed too quiet. Not that she heard much on it anyway, but something seemed off. The pull in the pit of her stomach caused her to feel unease prickle her psyche. It was the primitive human instinct that _something_ was wrong. Kathy had experienced such things before, and unfortunately for her they were more often than not correct. She hummed to herself in contemplation. She was not hurt, and while she did not appreciate being left without some form of sustenance it was not a cataclysmic event.

She nervously wiped at her face in frustration as her agitation mounted. Kathy looked out the window, the night sky shining with strange stars. So many stars that they nearly bordered on the true meaning of infinite, twinkled back at her brightly. She wondered if any of them had once winked down on Earth the same way.

A shiver coursed up her spine. She tried to dismiss her growing worry as nothing more than being paranoid. It was hard not to be a little on edge considering what had happened to her since these creatures had entered her life.

She decided to count the skulls on the wall to pass the time. She still wondered what they had been. What had some of them looked like? Had any of them been underwater or in any type of extreme climate? To take the time and effort to travel and slay these creatures must have been enormous. So much technology and so many resources devoted to hunting across the galaxy.

Kathy nearly spat in disgust.

Shortly after, a strange sound echoed from outside her door. Kathy froze, her eyes locking on the door as if it were possessed. A clank of metal upon metal resounded to the left. She shifted, suddenly afraid. The scurrying of what could only be called footfalls thumped above her.

'_Oh this is not good_,' she thought genuinely afeared for her safety.

The sounds were growing closer toward her location in the room. Kathy's body reacted, poised to run even if there was nowhere to run to. Her heart rate sped up to match her increased breathing. Sweat beaded at her temples, as she darted her gaze all around her. Her legs tingled as her muscles bunched, ready to spring away at the first glimpse of the unknown threat.

Hissing, the dreadful long hissing of an agitated animal filled her ears. Kathy looked up sharply with wide eyes. Little shrieks, nearly too high in frequency for her ears to hear, warbled in the vacant space between her and whatever the hell that was. Was Deuub dead? How did this thing get in the ship? Was there more than one? Was she going to die here?

That was the question she really needed to answer. Instinct prepared her for danger; the sweat of fear trailed a path down her neck. Her eyes flickered over toward Deuub's prized skulls. Some of them hand horns, they looked as if they could have been very sharp. It only took a heartbeat for her to decide as she raced across the room for the trophy wall. The skittering followed her, and that is when dread pooled in her stomach.

Frantic breathing, the sound of her panic as it amounted to nearly unbearable heights was the only thing she could hear outside of the muted hissing. Her fingers trembled as she reached for one that would not crush her with its weight. With only a moment's hesitation, she yanked it off the wall. Kathy felt the weight of the bone, it was far heavier than she'd anticipated. It slipped from her grasp and tumbled to the floor. She wiped at her brow feeling her heart race and the thrumming in her veins. The burn of adrenaline made her quiver as the skittering moved away from her. The echoes of distant thumping, as if something were coming down from the ceiling forced her to snatch up the skull with haste.

She did not know if she could even use the blasted thing, but it might be the only thing that stood between her and what was likely to be a gruesome death. Even if she did not know what it was, even on earth very few wild animals had been harmless. She could only imagine, in the deepest recesses of her mind where the horrors she'd already seen multiplied without number, as to what was prowling aboard this vessel.

She pressed the bone closer to her chest, trying to hold it as both a shield and weapon. She'd seen plenty of movies about fighting, read loads more of books, but she had no actual experience. Kathy was well aware just how outmatched against this creature she might truly be. The hissing continued, and she prayed that it would not be able to find a way into the room. She avoided the window, worried that whatever it was might come bursting through at any moment.

The lone human shook with terror and a small amount of determination to survive. She had nowhere to run and like any cornered animal, she knew she'd have to fight if she wanted to survive this.

There was a resounding silence. She foolishly hoped that it would not find her. That whatever it was could not get inside the room.

It pried back at the door, scratching crab-like claws with multiple points across the metal. Kathy watched as its claws scrapped off shavings and caused it to spark. She screamed, unabashedly terrified, as she recognized that it was nothing she'd ever seen before. Not very close to humanoid, the creature stared at her from the small section it had managed to carve out of the door. It was hideous. Kathy clutched at the skull for dear life.

Round edges and sharps protrusions of what looked like a carapace filled her vision. Rows of sinisterly sharp teeth formed in a ring that looked as if it were made for chewing through muscle or bone. She blanched at the sight. It hissed at her, and continued to try and peel back the door. It was powerful enough to move the metal. She blinked rapidly, her eyes searching for something, anything that might give her a chance to survive this. Hopefully intact, but she was not going to be overly picky about that right now.

It had two sets of claws, she noticed dimly and it was not using the second set much. The underbelly did not look as hard as the rest of it as it skittered around the opening it was creating.

She was going to die. There was no way she could fight that.

Seconds ticked by, the sound of it working frantically at the door. She knew it was coming, but she was rooted to the spot. Finally she shook herself from her daze. Kathy lifted the skull, grasping at the underside, intent on bringing the horns down on the creature. It struck, but did nothing, as the creature hissed at herm angered.

It lunged forward, and she dropped the skull in fright. It thudded harmlessly on the metal. The alien creature began to squeeze through the opening it had created. Its teeth moving as it crept toward her. Kathy yelled an expletive as she scrambled away. Fanged protruded from the upper section of the mouth.

There was something out there uglier than the Predators.

The last of its longer body entered the room and it coiled like a snake as it watched her with beady eyes sunk back in its head. She held her breath, scarcely able to move.

It charged her, angry and feral. Kathy screamed and caught the blow meant for her head with her arm. The stubbier claw she had failed to avoid. Skin tore and gave way under the claw. Red blood seeped up from the long gash. Kathy grunted in pain, her adrenaline pounding in her ears as she grabbed with her free hand. With all her might she pulled the alien to the side of her. The softer area behind its wrist flexed away from her touch. She moved farther away from it, trying to throw it off balance. Its body twisted quickly, and it was heading toward her again.

She barely managed to step out of the way of its pincer like fangs. Its face was inches from her own and Kathy dove for the skull she'd dropped in the initial scuffle. She wrapped her hand around one of the horns as the alien hissed loudly at her. Tiny screeches followed as it snapped at her with vicious intent. She shrieked in fury and fright as she brought the skull down like a hammer. The bone cracked at the creature skittered back.

Using her newfound rage, she pushed forward, trying to slash the air with one wicked horn from the long slain beast. The creature hissed at her menacingly, attempting to dart forward. One claw knocked Kathy off balance, and she stumbled back against the wall. Her eyes widened, as she pulled the skull upward to try and fend off another blow. A thought struck her, reckless and she was not certain it would even work. It raised itself upward, preparing to strike.

Kathy lurched forward, stepping to the side, and brought the wicked point of the skull upward. It sliced through a delicate underbelly, releasing a sickly yellow blood that cascaded downward as Kathy ripped the imbedded horn further down the creature. Intestines spilled over the floor, and she gasped. The alien curled in around itself, shrieking in agony. Kathy stood there staring at it stupefied. She did not know what to do. The creature thrashed until the movements grew weaker and weaker.

Instinctively, she clutched at her injured arm, trying to put pressure on the wound. Bright red human blood seeped through her fingers, mixing with the sickly yellow. A tarnished brown color greeted her gaze as her blood reacted with that which was on the floor. Her mind prompted her to run, the door was open and the largest danger was now more or less incapacitated. She could not ignore the overwhelming demand of thousands of years of human response.

She fled. She slipped in the pool of blood, falling heavily against the door frame. She cried out in pain as her shoulder impacted with the metal. Kathy could hear herself breathing heavily, and her mind temporarily numbed the worst of the sting. She had to get out of here.

Out. She had to get out. It was not even a conscious thought, but more of an intense drive. Her feet slapped against the metal in the hall, a squishing sound as she trailed blood in her steps. She ran past doors, where they led she had no inkling. She turned in a circle, with her panic rising. She had to keep going. It was dark in the hallway. So dark, that she stumbled a few times and could barely make out the belongings that were neatly stacked in the widest area of the ship. Kathy bolted forward, checking over her shoulder but knowing she could not make anything out in detail.

The light, a soft glow of the planets moon, caught her attention. Kathy could see a hole in the side of the ship. The metal looked as if it had been melted away, or eaten by acid. She paused, unsure if the creature had been the one to cause it. Her hesitance only lasted a split second before she was moving toward the hole, intent on escaping this death trap. Quickly she dropped to the floor, and scooted her but until her feet were outside dangling in the air. Kathy pushed off with her one good hand and tried to slowly slide out of the opening. Her injured arm was tucked tightly to her body and she miscalculated getting out.

With a bit too much momentum she crashed to the ground. Her legs were bent as she tumbled backward, hard, onto her back. Dazed for a moment, she could feel pain explode down her body. That had been a mistake, but she was out now. She rolled onto her good side and awkwardly got back on her feet. Reflexively she wiggled her toes in the dirt. She was not used to walking around barefoot and lacked the hard callouses that might have made this less of a hazard.

She silently cursed that she was always in the worst possible position. She did not have time to waste, and so she set off past the camp. She hoped that there were not more of those freaky alien sensors buried in the ground, but she lacked anyway of checking. She would simply have to risk it.

Fervor to run soon died down. Rocks cut into her feet, and dirt mingled with the blood forming a paste on her soles. She could feel the scrapes and scratches that came from the foreign plant life. She was wandering blind into a vast expanse of jungle. Even if she had a direction to go, she had no way of knowing if it was safe or if she even followed it.

Blood. She could feel the blood as it dripped from her wound to the ground. Still she could not stop. It was not safe enough to rest yet. She stumbled, weak and afraid through the underbrush. Her footsteps were uneven and her pace was greatly slowed. Kathy gripped at her injured arm, the pain causing her to cry out. She sucked in air through her clenched teeth, trying to calm the worst of the sensation. There were animals that watched her, strange and alien, though none approached her.

On this world, she was the one that was strange and alien. Her blood did more to repulse the creatures than draw them toward her. She heaved for a moment; her stomach rebelling against the onslaught of lit pain receptors that roared at her she'd been injured. Grime and filth covered her already, and she could only hazard a guess as to what that would do for a gaping wound.

If Deuub lived, he would find her. She knew that. And, if he knew what she'd done in order to get off that damn ship, he'd kill her. She knew that too. He'd have to; out of some messed up societal honor system. She didn't care right now.

She was as good as dead already.

Kathy was keenly aware she was probably going to succumb to gangrene or sepsis. There was no doctor on this world. No medicine or any means of proper wound care. She didn't even know it she could wash her arm in the water on this planet. For all she knew it contained high levels of mercury or other highly fatal compounds. She did not even know if the creatures bite had been poisonous. She could still process what was happening, but her body felt heavier than it should. That could have been due to gravity, her weakened state, or some sort of toxin in her system.

A single germ that multiplied off of her own skin would be enough to kill her without treatment. She huffed a deep breath, trying to relieve some of the burning in her lungs.

Two moons illuminated a never ending test of endurance through an alien jungle.

She used her unharmed appendage to grasp a nearby tree trunk and haul herself another step forward. The frail woman looked back briefly, her gaze landing on the outline of the ship. She hadn't noticed how much smaller it was compared to the first ships. It almost seemed like it could barely house Deuub's pack. Kathy reflected on the different rooms, and main area which still had some Predator's belongings neatly arranged without the benefit of privacy.

She cursed herself for not grabbing some of the items in her haste to flee. She would have to stop the bleeding somehow, but she did not have anything that would help. She could try to rip her clothing, however with only one good arm, it seemed impossible. She did not even want to move the impaired arm if she did not absolutely have to.

Still, she pressed onward. She could occasionally hear the drops of her red blood as they landed on the foreign leaves. She was leaving a trail, even she understood that. Yet, she did not have the energy, time, or knowledge to cover her tracks. She needed to find help, if there was any to be found.

Somehow, she highly doubted there would be any refuged to be sought. She could not return to the ship, too afraid of what else might be lurking there and what would happen if the Predators returned. And the fine double-edge sword of reason also made her afraid of what would happen if they did not come back.

She shook her head to clear some of the dizziness she felt. Her eyes scanned the surrounding area as best as she could. She winced as her unprotected feet were bit into by twigs and rocks. She had no shoes, no medicine, and was losing blood. Kathy could not help but find a grim sort of satisfaction in knowing that at least she wasn't dead yet.

She worried if there were more of those things Deuub had buried when he'd left her out as bait. She prayed that if she stepped on one, her demise would be swift. Hopefully, she wouldn't even know she'd died. If death even worked that way, she wasn't certain and now was not the time for in depth spiritual introspection.

Something warbled in the distance, and Kathy closed her eyes hoping it was not carnivorous. She steeled herself and shuffled forward alone and afraid.


	16. Chapter 16

**Thank you to all that have read and reviewed! No, Kathy is not going to get a break even though she is considered below the children; that is in status. Not in leniency. Remember they also have a slave/servant status below the children as well. Slaves/servants would be killed for doing what Kathy did and they know she is an adult female human and has been 'educated' on their ways. What she did was a major insult to Deuub even if it was for survival. **

**Rated M, I own nothing, and may not be suitable for some audiences. **

OoOoOo

She crashed through the underbrush, her body giving its last ounce of strength to see her to daylight. On Earth, the worst predators had hunted at night. Human instinct, honed through centuries of fighting against the odds, demanded she not move at night. However, Kathy had no choice. She stumbled without direction or destination through the dense jungle as unknown animals prowled.

Luck was with her, she was already bleeding. She could only hazard a guess that this planet's creatures did not enjoy the taste of iron. Or perhaps human hormones were an unappetizing scent. Whatever the reason, Kathy was extremely grateful. She would not be able to fend off a cat right now, let alone something with huge teeth or claws.

She hoped the bleeding had stopped. She could not see well enough to check yet. She had kept her free hand on the wound, holding pressure until fatigue had set in. Light peeked at her through the canopy of the trees. Kathy slid down the trunk of a tree, too tired to even take one more step. Her head nodded as she tried in vain to keep herself from nodding off into the comforting void of sleep.

No, she had to stay awake. It was not safe yet. She whimpered at the thought, but she'd have to do it.

Slowly, she unwrapped her hand from her injured arm. She cried out in pain as the dried blood pulled on the wound. Rusty brown covered her arm and hand. It was on her clothes. She bite hard on her lip to keep from making more noise as she breathed heavily to help accept the pain. Kathy's eyes wandered to her feet. They were impossibly dirty, and she could feel from the aches that they had split open in a few places. More rusty brown dried blood decorated her abused flesh.

She wished she had antibiotics, a warm bed, and maybe a cute doctor at hand.

She appraised the wound. It was deep, and the edges were already inflamed. Kathy felt as if it was the proverbial death knell. It did not take a genius like Nirmala to understand what would happen next. Kathy lolled her head back and cringed. She'd become feverish as the wound festered, pus would build under the scabbing, and soon turn putrid as muscle tissue died.

She would experience intense pain, chills, fever, aches, and she would become disoriented. Once the pain was over, her limb would be a useless chunk of rotting flesh that would pour toxins into her body. Her organs would then fail, one by one or en mass. She would have difficulty breathing, and as the infection slowly spread throughout her body other areas of her would become unusually warm. She would die one of the slowest and most painful ways possible, until she fell into a coma or unconsciousness to finally die. She'd die alone on a strange world with no one to even bury her.

She allowed herself to cry.

It just wasn't fair! She could not accept that after all she had done, after all she had faced, one measly little infection as going to kill her. Rationally she understood that she had lived longer than she initially thought, and that any infection was serious even if she did not want to comprehend that fact.

Her arm trembled as she fought the waves of pain. She hurt. She sniveled quietly, not even daring to cry loudly. She did not want to be found. Yet, she did not want to die either. What burned her the most was knowing there was nothing for it now. Lacking the proper medical care and no way to even clean the wound had been her undoing. Now she was simply riding out the last of her time. She may have eviscerated the creature, but it had killed her in the end as well.

There would be no one to honor the human traditions of death. No one to grieve over her, not that she wanted to make someone sad but she did wish to be remembered, and no one to prepare her body for the fire or the earth.

Earth was destroyed.

She would never go home. She could not rest in the same lands that her forefathers had. She would lay here a corpse to decompose on an alien world whose soil would welcome her in time. That was if she didn't still end up in some beast's belly.

She wanted to scream, she wanted to fight to the bitter end, she wanted to rest, and she wanted some peace. None of those things were likely to happen anytime soon. Even caught up in her misery, her head drooped again and her eyelids grew heavy. It wasn't safe to rest.

It wasn't safe…

She jolted awake, with the sun high in the sky and no longer peeking shyly above the horizon, when a snout dug into her wound. Kathy screeched. The pain rippled through her body causing her to ump as if she'd been struck with a live wire. The creature before her sprang back, no longer interested but suddenly afraid of her. She barely even saw the tail end of the thing as it all but yipped back into the jungle.

She heaved, her stomach unable to handle the pain, nothing came up. She had not eaten recently or even had liquid. Her eyes watered in response to the retching, and she gasped for air. She swore a string of curses at the planet, at the Predators, at herself for falling asleep, and at fate for her circumstances.

She whimpered as the worst of the pain subsided. Creamy pus and some blood mixed together oozed from her now reopened wound. She hissed a breath, wiping off her other hand to try and squeeze the majority of the liquid matter out of her wound. Kathy took a steadying breath, careful to keep her dirty hands away from the edges and pulled at the unaffected skin a little, coaxing the purulence to flow. She could not squeeze the wound without touching it, or she might have tried. It stung awfully and clenched her teeth to hold back the moan of agony she felt building,

She wished desperately that she'd taken that first aid course in college now.

She knew this was bad, and she didn't know what sort of disease, if possible, that creature could have given her.

She tried to pull her mind away from the pain. She would need water very soon. She had lost blood and had been exerting herself. To top off the list she was also wounded with a growing infection. Kathy had avoided the water before, unsure if it was safe to drink, but now she had no choice. Further dehydration would make any chance she had impossible. For the first time in her life, Kathy was forced to think over the possibility that she might have to cut off her own arm to save her life.

Just like the fox in the hunters trap. How she would severe the limb, she did not know, but it might become a necessity. She knew she would have to find some sort of metal, and the materials to make a fire. It might take the last of her willpower, but she'd have to learn how to make one. She would need it.

If she was forced to cut off her arm, she'd have to cauterize the wound. She blanched at the thought and swallowed the remaining bile in her throat. IT was not time for that yet, but it could come on swift wing like the myth of the messenger Hermes.

She forced herself upward to stand. She very well might die, but she refused to do it here and now. Kathy clicked her teeth together, and she took her first step forward in hours. Her back argued in protest, and her legs trembled under her own weight. IT was an inauspicious start. She stumbled along, keeping her oozing wound close to her body as she attempted to navigate her way through the dense area of the underbrush. She listened carefully to the sounds of the wildlife, hoping that if they went silent, it would be her warning against the Predators. If they even lived. She still did not know what had happened to Deuub and his pack. Part of her wanted to know, the familiar demon was preferable to the unknown. Another part of her did not care as long as she wasn't held by him any longer. She'd won her damn freedom just as his culture seemed to find so bloody fascinating.

There had been times in the darkness of what had been her little prison, Kathy had stubbornly tried to compare the two races in order to find the Predators lacking, and often times she succeeded. However, it was never far from her thoughts that they really were not all the different. Each held a set of values and beliefs, though she did not understand how their society had advanced as far as it had given what they liked to focus on. She admitted briefly that she wondered what it would have been like to sit down with a female Predator because they ran the government. What would a female's mind bring in Kathy's situation?

Then again a female Predator would not have found herself in Kathy's lack of shoes. The pain in her feet was numbed and Kathy worried that it was either from a lack of blood, or the infection setting in. It may have just been her feet getting used to constantly being in pain. She wasn't sure and frankly, she did not care to hazard a guess as to which was the correct answer.

She fell once or twice, her speed greatly hobbled by her lack of footwear. There was the possibility that she traveled in circles, but Kathy had continued forward, always forward into the night and now day. Thinks looked different depending on the light and she could not tell if she had come this way before. She could not tell how far she'd gone from the ship, and that thought unnerved her. She began to doubt if she had actually killed the crab creature. It could have lived; she knew nothing about their species. Kathy shuddered at the thought.

She stilled with her eyes going wide at the outcropping of rocks that edged toward a large hill. Was it a hillock? No, it was too large; it had to be a hill of sorts. Kathy pushed onward, weak and thirsty. Her eyes were slightly glazed and glassy. She was growing more ill by the hour. Sweat slicked skin, covered in dirt glistened with a sickly parlor in the sunlight. Her skin had reddened already due to her unprotected state.

She was unable to climb up the trees to see at a greater distance. She continued tiredly toward what she hoped offered some safe harbor. Any port would do in a storm and Kathy was in the middle of a maelstrom. She coughed harshly, her throat dry and begging for water. She stepped unevenly on some rocks, hissing as they dug further into uncovered cuts. Tears dried on her cheeks and started to itch. She was so close and getting closer with every miniscule step.

A cry rent the air, Kathy stilled looking about. IT sounded like a bird of some sort, or maybe it was far more sinister than that, but when nothing happened she resumed her slow pace. Rock gave way to mud, something like water had saturated the ground, but it made her skin sting unpleasantly. She hobbled out of it as quickly as she could.

Tingling soon followed up her legs, and raced to her back. Her knees buckled and she came down hard upon unforgiving stone and pebbles. She would have grunted, but stars blinked in front of her eyes, flashes of light and darkness.

Whatever that substance had been, Kathy had not been careful enough. Something told her quietly in her thoughts, which said she wasn't going to make it. There would be no getting out of this.

Susan, Joan, Whitmore, Renata, Nirmala, and even Ysabel. May they have a better life than she. May one of them find the others. May they find the human world that would be a new home to them all. May they never forget what Earth had been or what the human race could be.

Kathy's heart beat slower.

There was only the sound of shuffling, steps not quite correct and the snuffling of something in her hair. Kathy slowly opened her eyes, her gaze unfocused and blurry.

"_Ooman,"_ a voice rasped above her neutrally.

Kathy fumbled for coherent word or thought. She knew that someone was talking to her, but her mind and mouth could not make a connection. She closed her eyes listlessly, trying to fight the symptoms of her infection. It was in vain, she could do nothing. Kathy huffed at the air, her breathing labored and difficult.

She wouldn't die alone at least. There was a small sense of comfort in that, what little she could focus on to feel. The numb feeling spread up her chest, and her body shook slightly. Quiet, the world of noises, smells, violence, and alien beauty; it was quiet now. Kathy embraced the stillness, and the last lingering memories of the world she fondly remembered. The scent of dogwood trees in bloom, and the air was slightly chilled as spring became summer. The bitter taste of coffee on her lips with a hint of cream and sugar. The feel of grass, sweet and green, cushioning her body as the magpies chased each other in the sky. She could almost envision the sight of the vast blue sky, or the seemingly depthless ocean. Kathy could recall the scent of her favorite cinnamon buns baking after a hard day. She could almost feel the softness of her bed, surrounded by pillows as she looked out her bedroom window at the starry sky with its one moon. One and only world she missed so dearly calling out to her.

She was almost home…

She was ready now. It was alright. It was okay to die. There was much she wished she had done, but it was alright. The tranquil feeling of the long sleep beckoned her. She'd see her family again. May God forgive her for the wrongs of her life, and look kindly on what she'd done right. May there be mercy for the next poor soul.

Kathy surrendered to the siren song of the darkness.

OoOoOo

A humanoid figure watched the female as she lay in the dirt dispassionately. Heavy scarring covered most of his body, though still impressive in his muscle, he was not what he once had been. A lame leg ached in the changing weather pressure. It growled to itself, chattering at nothing. How the weak creature had found his camp; remained a mystery not worth solving at the moment.

A sleek body moved across the ground away from the human.

The beast rested at its master's feet. It remained motionless until called upon, and it was not needed now. The figure clicked at the woman pensively. She was obviously injured and it would be a mercy to simply put her down. However, his honor was not so far gone that he would harm another's trophy. The charred mask glinted in the dying sunlight, and that is when the greatest game came creeping out of the shadows.

It was the time he lived for.


	17. Chapter 17

**Thank you my reviewers! I am off of my brief break and I know some of you have been waiting for me to update. I am sorry it took so long for my muse to come back to me on this one. **

**A mighty thanks to Khalthar who helped tremendously with this chapter and some idea contained within!**

**Rated M. I own nothing. This is just for pure enjoyment. **

OoOoOo

Tears stung her eyes. Her eyelids were sticky, hard to open as her gaze saw nothing but the skin covering them. Her body ached and throbbed in a complex series of impulses. No. No, she'd been ready to die. She wasn't dead; pain didn't come to the dead. Kathy allowed a soundless sob to escape dry and parched lips. Dear God why wasn't she dead? She was so tired of life and the desolation that it held for her.

The tears leaked from the corners of her eyes, silent and defeated.

Pain pulsed from her wound. It came in spurts that would then ebb away as the flesh tightened. Her arm was moving, but she was not the one doing it. Fear and curiosity mixed in equal parts. Faint pressure and the occasional jerk had her lolling her head to the side. The action was nearly unbearable.

She tried to pry her eyes open, but it took time and effort. She laid there thinking of the dozen or so horrible things that would greet her when she finally managed to do more than lay half-dead on the ground.

Finally she opened her eyes, her lashes sticking partway, obscuring some of her sight. A thin grey rope was wrapped around her arm. Her mind caught up with her confusion before horror dawned on her. It was moving. It slithered along her arm, tiny rows of mouths, suction like suckers were nibbling pieces of her flesh. Faint green strings webbed around her wound, they changed color as the pulling sensation returned. Her mind dimly registered a single fact. It was eating her.

The thought had barely processed before Kathy lost it. She flailed and screamed. Her wounded arm crashed to a hard surface as she attempted to crush the worm. The action hurt her, as the creature protested its mistreatment by latching onto her wound with its rows of tiny mouths. She screeched in pain and terror.

There was only a deep growl of warning before the Predator's face was above hers. She was torn between screaming and thrashing. Her body stilled out of a trained reflex toward his kind. He was the larger threat, even if she was slowly being eaten alive. Even as the terror clawed at her mind and pain tore at her body, she still recognized that this was the same Predator who had saved her from being raped.

His posture was strained, as he gestured for her to lie back down. Kathy trembled, her head swimming and bile creeping its way up her throat. She made a sound, her mouth opening and eyes closing as she fought off the urge to vomit.

There was another tug on her arm.

Kathy was unsuccessful. It was _eating_ her and the tusked-one expected her to just let it? She propped herself up on her good arm and emptied her stomach of what was left of the gastric acid inside. The Predator chittered agitatedly; drawing back in what Kathy could only call disgust. She might have felt embarrassed once upon a time. She hardly cared anymore. She fell back, gracelessly thumping on the ground. Even lying still left her lightheaded and she tried to focus on breathing. She was too miserable to speak and the Predators were never exactly talkative.

Not in a language she understood at least.

Her skin prickled, and she felt hot. Her skin felt like it was too tight on her, like a baked potato that was about to burst. She desperately longed for water as her parched throat stung with the bitter traces of vomit. It was sour and disgusting in her mouth. Weak, that is how she felt. Weak and drained. Her small burst of panic having overrode her illness for a short time.

She was still dying then. Or at the very least, she was very sick. Her eyes felt as if they were ready to boil inside her skull. More tears slipped down her dirty cheeks in unvoiced pain. The chittering above her turned to clicking, as if he were speaking to her. Kathy didn't dare try to speak. Was he helping her? She didn't know, but he wanted to let the worm eat at her wound. Her arm jerked in sporadic intervals. Her eyes opened half-lidded to stare at the sky above her only to find she was not out in the open.

Where was she? Her heart rate spiked in fear. She wished, reflecting on everything that she'd endured to this point, that she could feel anger. Anger did not come so readily as survival and terror did. She shivered violently, unable to stop the chattering of her teeth.

The Tusked-one took particular interest at this for he loomed over her. His head was cocked to the side in confusion. In her thoughts, Kathy wondered if he thought she was trying to communicate with him. She wasn't, it was too cold for her not to clack her teeth as she shook.

She felt cold on a planet that was more like a hot tropical jungle. It was not correct and somewhere a part of her knew that she should be sweltering in the heat with sweat pouring off her body.

"_Still sick_," The deep and gravelly voice said quietly.

It was the ridiculousness of the situation, with her being wounded, infected, eaten, and the stress which caused her to give a humorless laugh. Her eyes locked with the Predator's visor, uncaring if it would be seen as a challenge. Ysabel would simply have to understand the circumstances and if Kathy was going to die, at least she would be moderately less subservient.

"Yes," she croaked out, barely managing not to be sick once more.

She'd never really considered herself a religious person by nature. It would be true to say she always had some small hope burning brightly in her chest, but she only prayed out of habit. Praying had become a touch of her own personal salvation. It was something to do and allowed her mind to stay busy when nothing was happening anymore. It allowed her not to go insane when she was kept in a room virtually isolated.

Sometimes, she liked to believe that God heard her. Other times she half-hope she was wrong because she did not want to have faith in a being that hadn't stopped the human race from almost becoming a whisper of a long forgotten history.

Her body shivered from fever. It was impossible for her tell how long she had. If there was a silver lining in this experience, she would die quickly. '_Hopefully_,' she thought bitterly,' _before the worm moves onto other parts of my body._'

The Tusked-one shifted. His chest rumbled and she watched his scarred flesh as he poked at the worm, as if coaxing it to another part of her wound.

She drew in a hissed breath. It didn't hurt, but it frightened her and she was still very dehydrated. She could feel it in her body, and the way she kept feeling confused by what was happening.

"What are you doing?" She asked before she could stop herself. Her tongue felt thick and the words slurred in her mouth.

He clicked at her, still arranging the worm to his liking. She felt the squeezing around her arm again.

"_Helping. Sick."_ His statements were very straightforward. A part of her wondered if he were unused to company, because his gravelly voice was rougher than Deuub's. It spoke of being unused.

The hound snuffled somewhere close by but Kathy was too drained to look for it. Would it still be as terrifying as she remembered? It hardly mattered. The thought struck her that he was trying to heal her, but it was likely in vain. What could a Predator know about human medicine? Kathy knew antibiotics could be used on dogs, but not what kind or how much. Earth was also gone and the medicines that had been created by her people for humans could not be found here on this dangerous planet.

She didn't know what medicine the Predator's possessed. She doubted very much that there was a miracle cure-all as science fiction often liked to portray. Amino acids were complicated things and certain compounds no matter the form were highly toxic to her species. How would another species even know? The Tusked-one would have had to study her kind and know a great deal about science to even hazard a guess.

Kathy knew he did not have such knowledge, so he was helping her the best way he could. The Tusked-One was letting a creature eat the infected tissue of her skin. At least, that is all she could think it was doing. Some hospitals, before she'd been taken, had used maggots for the same purpose of cleansing what could not be adequately gotten by doctors.

This was only barely more tolerable than maggots crawling over her.

She blanched and tried to think of anything else.

"My name is Kathy," her voice sounded small and afraid even to her own ears.

The Predator did not reply. He did nothing, to acknowledge her words. Except to pull away and loom over her once more. The snuffling of the beast grew softer. Perhaps it had caught the scent of something. She prayed it wasn't Deuub or his pack.

Dear God… what was she going to do if it was? She did not want the Tusked-one to be hurt because she'd touched that damn skull. She'd only done it to save her life, but she knew it wouldn't mean a thing to her captor. He had called himself her protector, in his own words, a few times. She didn't feel protected. She felt as good as dead.

Sweat trickled down her temples and her eyes burned as she blinked away the fear and dwindling reserves of strength.

If she was fortunate, she would die before he found her. She'd accepted her fate once and though surviving again had filled her with a bitter disappointment; she could be ready to meet her maker once more.

Meet her maker. Would she meet hers or theirs? Since she was Deuub's property… did heaven work like that? Or was it hell? Did the Predator's even have religion? She could not recall.

"Do you have a God?" Dying made the questions she'd never dare before possible to ask.

He regarded her, his visor revealing nothing of his thoughts. Whatever he was looking for, he found in her prone form. A large and irritated sigh escaped him followed by some mild clicking. "_Yes_."

"Do you ever pray to him?"

"_Him. Her. Does not matter_," he replied slightly vague.

It always mattered, that is what she'd been told.

"Why?"

"_Dha-viath_."

Kathy did not understand the words, but the note of infinite loss in them struck a chord in her heart.

"I pray mine will forgive me."

He remained silent, not terribly interested in what she had to say. Kathy supposed it was because their ways were so different from each other. Humans would be very odd creatures to ones such as them. Just as she would never come to understand Predators, she wouldn't have to worry much longer about them anyway.

"When they came for us, I should have kicked or screamed or fought. I should have done something. Maybe if I had, I could feel just the tiniest bit better about losing Earth. I- I," Her lower lip trembled as her voice grew thick, "If I had done something, then maybe I wouldn't be so haunted at it being destroyed."

His head snapped up, and his mandibles were wide. His gaze was on her now, and she could feel the intensity.

"But, someone rebelled at giving us up. You know? Who would willingly give away their women? What woman would willingly give up her children? But, but they say that some did and I don't know what to think. Not really. My life is gone. Everything I had is gone. The people that sold us for fucking _technology_ are gone." She covered her face with her good arm as the tears poured from her freely. She was finally able to tell someone just how lost she truly was. She was going to die from infection, or likely, she would die from exposure because the Tusked-one would leave her to fend for herself and Kathy knew she'd never survive.

But she could confess, one last time. She could die with a clear conscience and perhaps that would be enough for what was left of the human race. She would be another one gone, a voice of the species silenced forever on a planet she did not even know the name of. A Predator as her only companion as she treaded the unknown ground between life and death.

She did not notice how still he'd gone, or how his mandibles had drawn closed in silent unexpressed fury.

"They took my chance at children. Well, no, they took my ovum. My half of a child. All of them. They took all of them. And, the women, so many of them are like me. They are trophies. But we don't even have the mercy of being dead. We are alive and we can't live like the dead. We need touch and socialization. To be able to speak and feel at will. We need each other and all I've had are _bones_." Her voice broke on the last word to a sob of such deep sorrow, that to another human it would have been gut-wrenching.

"Bones and death. Danger and loss." She mewled plaintively. The worm around her arm constricted at her distress. "I haven't seen another human in months, and he left me. Fucking left me out there as _bait_. When you- the day we met, he left me out as bait. I thought he was letting me finally see somewhere outside of that damn room, but it was a lie. Always. My people are dead, what's left of my fellow humans are enslaved and I don't even understand why it came to that."

"Everything. You Predators took everything."

She sobbed until she could not move anymore, and the exertion carried her into a blissful state of unconsciousness. She once more hovered between the living and the dead.

She could not have known that her words had sealed the fate of those that had taken her life from her. Even the dishonored could not accept such an act.

**Translation**

Dha-viath: Disaster.- This is a double meaning for the story. His answer to Kathy's question of him praying, is that it would be disastrous. And that he is disastrous. Another way of saying dishonored for the purpose of this story.


	18. Chapter 18

**Thank you all my reviewers! I thank you for your time and kind words. I own nothing. Rated M. **

**Many thanks to Khalthar, who helped look over and work with me to create ideas as well as this chapter. **

OoOoOo

Her next conscious thought, was the worm creature was gone. The tugging on her flesh had ceased at some point while she'd hovered in a world both here and not. The air felt warm but not sweltering and she was lying down on a bed that was not the one Deuub had allowed her to use. The furs were different colors and the room was smaller.

Light christened the sky in a glow wholly foreign to Kathy as she opened swollen eyes to face the dawn. She could feel the tiny crumbles of sand that signaled she had slept. Even if it was fitfully. This planets sunlight danced playfully through a ship window. She despised spaceships. She had found them a passing fancy once upon a time back when her life had been her own. She had dreamed of Earth again. She had dreamed of home and life and wonder. It filled her with heavy longing over the places she'd vowed to see, that she would never see now.

Earth would forever be destroyed.

She would forever be doomed to wander the soils and lands of a planet not her own in the hopes of finding some place to call home. Yet, it would never be enough to fill the aching and fiery pain left in the wake of her loss.

Numbness spread over her psyche like a soothing balm. She had survived for them. She survived for those that had died and especially for those that still lived on. It had been enough to drive her to the brink of insanity and pull her back equally as viciously. Was it sufficient now? Was this pain the last she would know? She had known so much already. Kathy had bent herself into being the perfect living object that she could scarcely recall a time any longer where she was anything but a trophy.

Did an object have feelings? She did not know, but she _did_ have feelings. Anguish, sorrow, compassion, loss, fear, anger, hope, and disappointment were ever-present in her Predator-induced hell. Listlessly, she allowed her gaze to wander around all that was visible to her. Kathy did not know what this place was called. She knew it to be a ship of some sort.

It looked… older and smaller. She felt as if it were not as spacious as Deuub's ship had been. It was almost as if he heard her thoughts.

"_You are awake?"_

Kathy startled at his words. "Yes," she rasped out quietly, as she skillfully avoided looking at the Predator.

"_Your sickness has passed."_ He informed her in his guttural voice.

She cringed internally in fear that he would return her to Deuub, or kill her for her impertinence earlier. Even after accepting death and sobbing over its loss, she was suddenly beset by the pesky urge to survive again.

"Thank you," she mumbled for lack of a proper response and not wishing to upset her unexpected good Samaritan.

He chattered at her softly.

"You speak my language remarkably well," she said, not daring to question him outright. Kathy could still recall the twinges of fear that came with any Predator encounter. She knew he could kill her with a flick of his wrist. That fact was not lost on her.

A clicking met her words, and she could tell he was regarding her words with a measure of decorum. "_Many a cycle I have studied and learned the ways of the true hunt. __**The honorable."**_

His words were lost on her, the emphasis behind them prickled at her skin causing patches of the hair on her arms to stand.

Her thoughts scattered and pulled as she pondered over his words carefully. "You studied? Humans?" She lowered her gaze once more, her head bent slightly downward. She did not wish to end their conversation with her untimely end by insulting the hunter now.

"_I wandered many cycles, many cycles I have watched and learned."_ His tentacle-like protrusions shifted slightly as his face turned toward her more. She could not shake the feeling that he was waiting for something from her. What she could not tell.

A gasp worked its way into her throat, but she refused to allow it to pass. Her thoughts whirled excitedly. "You've been to Earth?" She allowed her face to show her sadness as her words fully sunk in. "You _used_ to visit Earth?" Kathy corrected with a lump in her throat. She fought desperately to swallow it, lest she be unable to choke back the sob that would accompany speaking of her home world.

"_It was long ago."_ He chattered for a moment, the sound was deeper than Deuub's had ever been and Kathy found herself not disliking the way he sounded.

"_Gkyaun,_" he rumbled at her. His voice was so controlled it was almost non-existent and she strained her ears just to hear him.

She waited patiently, hoping that he would continue unprompted. He did not, instead he watched her through his visor. There was something in his posture, and his voice which made Kathy question her presumption that all Predators were hulking, deadly grace combined with lethal intent.

"What is it that you want from me Gk-uan?"

"_Gkyaun_," he corrected, his body remained unmoving.

She nodded her understanding once, her chin dipping down enough to nearly touch her breastbone.

"_I want for nothing. I must return to you what has been taken."_ His voice was rough and there was a hiss at the end of his words. Kathy was struck by the thought, that had he been human he would have found the words he said distasteful.

Her brows drew together in confusion. "I don't understand."

"_What has been done to you was without honor. It is worthy only of the lowest Bad Blood."_ His hands clenched at his sides, and flexed open. He twitched and she slid her gaze over to watch the scarred flesh contract then relax.

"My leaving?" Her voice shook with unbridled fear.

He turned away from her, his hulking frame filled up most of the space around them. The sound of his mask unclicking surprised her. Her eyes focused in on the back of his head and the inky-black tentacles that hung off of it. She would never admit to anyone but herself that she had been curious about the Tusked-one. Would he bare scars on his face as well? Would he look just like Deuub? Would he be different?

It did not truly matter, but her mind needed the distraction. Kathy tried not to dwell on what she had lost, and even hearing it mentioned caused the felling of sadness to well within her.

"_Your life."_

She frowned softly at the words; she pondered his meaning and fervently prayed that something was not lost in translation.

Without his mask, the words were crisper, but there was a strange sound still present at the end of his clicks. The pop-ping sound that wasn't quite correct. She looked upon him with baited breath as he turned slowly. She knew that a male like Deuub could not attract a female, and the bad blood who had tried to mate her by force could not, and the Tusked-one was heavily scarred. Even in a culture that should have for all intents and purposes valued a heavily scarred hunter such as Gkyaun, it shunned those like him.

Her heart pitifully felt for him, though Kathy tried to tamp down the feeling of compassion with an iron fist.

Kathy's eyes widened as she saw his face for the first time. It was heavily scarred like the rest of him. One side was mangled badly, with a portion of his lower mandible missing. It explained the popping sound. His species required some part of it for speech and his impediment made him undesirable.

It was easier for her to look at him. He was wounded physically, and not the monsters who had chased her through forests, hills, jungles, and valleys. He had helped her, and healed her. There was nothing in her at the moment which did not feel gratitude for his interference, even if she could not bring herself to feel anything except loathing toward his species as a whole.

Without them, Earth would still exist. Her family, friends, and home would all be waiting for her.

She closed her eyes briefly against the wave of emotional pain.

His dark eyes bore into her with such force, she could feel it physically.

"_I cannot bring back your world, nor the clan members you have lost._" The tusked-one shuffled closer toward the bed she laid on. Kathy noted his obvious limp once more.

"_I cannot reclaims the children taken from you. Nor can I reverse the dishonorable way in which you were treated."_ The Predator gave an angry hiss, and his tentacles puffed up a bit. Kathy took a breath, trying to calm her raging fears and concerns.

His predatory eyes watched her fully. "_I can serve you. If you so choose. For it is your choice. I will take nothing from you, not even that."_

"Serve me?" Her tone was as puzzled as she felt.

"_There is honor in restoring what has been taken through dishonor."_ The Predator told her with his guttural voice. Kathy shivered.

She looked down. "What does 'serve' mean to you?" There was already so much of a gap between his culture and hers. Kathy wished the other women were by her side. Even Ysabel would be welcomed in the moment.

"_What you require shall be done or the attempt must be made to your satisfaction." _ His posture brooked no argument. Kathy understood his meaning for the most part. He would do what was needed to help her be content with she'd been given in life.

A thought occurred to her. What did a 'bad-blood' or 'cripple' like this Predator care? Kathy could hardly keep up the strength to fight, and suddenly a Predator was in front of her saying such _things_. Anger chaffed at her pride. It was swiftly replaced by the long forgotten sensation of relief.

"You will be my guardian? You will protect me? Provide for me?" Her voice grew softer and more uncertain with each question. "You will…" Tears prickled her eyes painfully, "you will take me to the reserve planet?"

He cocked his head to the side, the scarred portion of his face conspicuously blank. She could tell there was interest there in his dark eyes.

"_I will serve you_ _for honor, to return what was taken. If that is what you wish."_ His words were measured. They were carefully guarded, and Kathy nodded her acceptance.

Her hands felt clammy and her heart was racing. She licked dry lips as her eyes darted from spot to spot on the ground. "I…I won't be a trophy?"

His near roar of denial had her jumping and flinching back in reflex. Upon seeing her distress, he quieted somewhat, but not wholly. If she had been capable of the act, Kathy would have curled into a ball or laughed.

Neither option was entirely without merit.

"_Never."_ There was a weight in the one word which caused Kathy's sense of freedom to soar.

Her skin itched and she knew the healing skin should not be scratched. It took all of her remaining willpower not to allow her nails to rake over the tender flesh for a distraction.

"I won't be confined to your trophy room?"

He clicked at her, her gaze landing on his touching mandibles in fascination.

"_No."_ His denial was firm.

Suspicion crept at the edges of her thoughts. It was so unlike what she had come to know her role as a human among Predator that Kathy scrambled for the questions to ask and a way to express herself. The words simply would not come as she needed. Finally, after what had to have been minutes, she asked the questions that needed voiced.

"And, you would do this for me?" Her thoughts whispered '_why?_' but she dared not say it aloud. She trembled in ill-suppressed emotion.

"_I cannot give back all that was taken. I am too…" _He paused and she waited patiently, even as her thoughts exploded in possibility. "_Broken. I will make right what I can. It is honor to serve you."_

Honor. What did that word even matter anymore?

She blinked, scarcely able to comprehend the words and their meaning. A sensation slightly like fear coursed through her veins. Was this real? Was this _actually_ happening? Was this some sort of dream or had she died and this was a strange introduction into something not quite Heaven or Purgatory? Did she dare to trust this?

Kathy warred with herself as Gkyaun watched her. His mandibles did not even bother her at the moment. It did not matter that he was of the very species which had brought her race low. All that mattered was the fact he was offering her freedom. Not only freedom from her cursed existence, but he would take care and protect her in a way that Deuub had not. She felt that treacherous feeling of affection resound through her toward the Tusked-predator.

A small still voice prompted her to be certain that what he offered was in line with her deepest need.

"If I wanted to see the other humans, on the reserve planet I heard of. Would you take me there?" She risked a small glace upward, and she saw his mandibles close in thought.

"_Is it what you require?"_

She wanted to see her people. She needed to see them and be among them. She longed desperately for something other than bleakness and near death. The first fluttering of true hope spread through her heart. She smiled at Gkyaun as if he hung the moon that had circled Earth before its destruction.

"Yes," she said nearly breathless. "Yes, I would like that very much."

He growled lightly in acknowledgement as he shifted weight off of his less sound leg. Kathy watched as he straightened to his full height, the beast snuffled curiously at his leg. His tentacle protrusions swayed gently, and his armor gleamed in the artificial light. Kathy had never seen a more noble appearance among any Predator she'd encountered.

"_Then only death shall prevent me from getting you there." _His oath was sworn, and Kathy nearly forgot how to breathe.

The beast at his feet lolled its head to one side and blinked at her curiously.


	19. Chapter 19

**Dear Readers, **

**Thank you for all your reviews! I am simply over the moon at the how many of you are reading this. Thank each and every one of you.**

**A hearty thanks as well to Khalthar for all of his wondrous help and ideas. Many e-mails were exchanged to bring about this chapter and he was invaluable for his editing and feedback! Please enjoy!**

**Rated M, I own nothing, and no, I did not create Predators. **

OoOoOo

He watched over her during almost every waking moment. He became a silent but vigilant guard for her fragile thoughts to latch onto. Gk'yaun's steady gaze was something Kathy began to take assurance in. The quiet chattering he made when he moved about the ship, and the sound of his slightly shuffled steps put her at ease. His strange hound often wandered the area around Kathy as if trying to understand what she was.

The alien hound knew enough from his Master's behavior, that Kathy was not in fact a tasty treat or chew toy. For which she was exceedingly grateful.

Soon she was sneaking glances at him, with extreme caution due to her uncertain and likely precarious situation. It was nearly out of her control, as she caught herself looking over at him for the third time in the day. Her arm had regained most of its functionality and the wound was healing nicely.

It would scar, he had warned her. However, Kathy did not care about a scar. What did one little mark on her flesh really matter when she'd been offered the world? Not her old and true world, but the world of possibilities where all she need wonder was 'What could we be again?'

There was hope burning bright in the young woman for the first time in days too numerous to count. For, she'd lost count. What month was it? What Day? What year, even? How much time had passed with her held fast in the clutches of greedy Predators who'd decided the sole purpose of humans was to breed their lines back out?

Gk'yaun took great care to give her privacy, he did not hover over her and she was a little lost at his behavior. She'd been deprived of touch and stimulation outside of life or death, that any bit of company would've been welcomed. Vivid recollections of social interactions whirled in her thoughts. She missed everything about her world and her people so dearly, that she could almost feel it as a tangible part of her body.

The beast had not left her though. She didn't even _think_ of touching it, Kathy had no idea what it was and she was not going to lose a few fingers to a horned monstrosity from another world. She swallowed heavily as the beast in question let out a low growl. She froze momentarily in the bed she convalesced upon.

It continued this way for several days. Gk'yaun left only to hunt, and even then only after informing Kathy. It seemed almost as if he waited for her to approve before he left the ship. She always stayed awake, despite her drowsiness, until he returned.

Until finally, on the eighth day, he declared her well. She'd been both pleased and apprehensive. Particularly when he asked her to dress and follow him. He provided her with clothes that were more in line with his people, than hers. She felt exposed and out of place but she put them on. Kathy did so without question, feeling curious and akin to his hound. She would gladly trail after him for all he'd done. She was no longer a possession without any other purpose.

"_I must be certain,_" he said solemnly, with his massive head downturned toward hers. "_That all you have spoken is truth."_

She puffed a breath through her parted lips. Feeling it push past her teeth, as she swallowed back the noise of outrage that threatened to worm past her clenched jaw. Kathy looked at him in the eyes, something she'd purposefully avoided for as long as she'd been in his presence and relatively healthy.

"Every word." She replied with quiet dignity.

He nodded only once. Her words seemingly having the answered some unspoken questions.

Gk'yaun pushed through the dense underbrush of the jungle, and Kathy followed in his wake. The alien hound lopped behind her, it seemed to Kathy that it was bringing up the rear or defending her from a flank attack. Subconsciously she kept herself closer to her protector, human instinct pressed at her to watch the surrounding area. Every sense she possessed was heightened as they crept along. She wanted to get off of this planet as soon as possible.

Her nightmares were still plagued with impossible alien life forms that were easily capable of ending her life. Tender flesh still bore the pink and shiny new scar as a souvenir of her battle with the deadly crab creature. _If_ she had ever been fortunate enough to have had human children, she never would have spoken a word of her time here. It was hell.

Only, it was painstakingly real and not another realm. It was another world in which she floundered because she was not part of it. She was unnatural here.

The shimmer around them alerted Kathy to the presence of other Predators. She stilled like a gazelle poised just before the run of its life.

Gk'yaun snarled something in his language at the shimmering interlopers.

Kathy trembled uncontrollably as Deuub came into view, seemingly out of nowhere.

Gk'yaun hissed and chattered angrily, gesturing in her direction nearly widely. Deuub's tentacles puffed up in agitation as words she did not understand were hurled back and forth with the same tenacity as weapons.

She was instantly agitated. Her fingers gripped her arm in a punishing manner. She needed the pain momentarily to remind her that this was real and she wasn't still locked away in a tiny room with only a single window to watch her life go by. Measured only in stars, planets, and visits from Deuub.

Deuub hissed angrily at Gkyaun. Her self-sworn protector puffed up and threw his arms wide. A roar of fury tore from his throat as he shifted, ready to repel any possible attack. Kathy felt fear course through her veins at the sight. They would likely fight and she worried greatly if Gk'yaun could defeat Deuub. She'd never seen either of them in any form of combat.

'_No_,' she thought with growing horror. '_No, not now. Not when I finally found someone who can take me back to my people!_'

She moved before she even comprehended doing so. Her legs jerked underneath her as she flung herself forward.

"Stop!" She shouted loudly, drawing the predatory eyes of every alien to her frantic denial.

She looked at them each in turn, her shorn hair following her movements. "Please," she pleased with no one in particular. "Stop."

Deuub let loose a harsh angry hiss.

Gk'yaun, shifted closer toward her, a wall of hardened muscle to protect the frail human female who acted so rashly. He chattered angrily toward her former captor with a few loud popping sounds to enunciate his words.

More threatening gestures that even translated across their species barrier.

Kathy was losing what little part of her that felt anything other than terror.

Panic was clawing at her insides, she allowed her gaze to wander toward the other members of Deuub's pack. She'd never even truly seen them during her time spent as a prisoner aboard his vessel. She kept her eyes from theirs, but the general outlook of the situation was grim at best. What of the Yautja-police? Or whatever it was that they were called. There had been that one earlier. How powerful was he? How long was a cycle if he had lived so many? And both he and Gk'yaun could speak her language well enough. It was almost too much to dwell on.

It was wearing her thin, the small half-broken hope that grew in her combined with the ever present threat of something else coming to stop her from seeing what was left of her people again. How did one go through this and not feel altered in even the smallest measure? She was not the woman she used to be, and she knew that could never be given back to her. Gk'yaun spoke of restoring what had been taken, but what about the part of her that had been lost? She had once foolishly believed that as an adult, her innocence had been parted due to the calls of the world and lust in the usual way. But those simplistic definitions seemed so moronic in light of what she faced now.

A Bleak and hopeless existence, shrouded in a thin layer of nearly undeniable hope.

Deuub warbled something at her, that sounded half threatening. It might have been directed at Gk'yaun, but it was very hard to tell.

Instinct reared its ugly head; the all too human aspect of finding safety in numbers from a threat, and needing others to survive. She _needed_ Gk'yaun. She could keep the edges of her fragile psyche together around him. Something burned in her to try and deescalate the situation, fearing the other outcome of a fight greatly.

She had to keep them from attacking Gk'yaun. He'd never be able to take them all on at once. Did they work that way? Did they fight one on one? Her mind could not recollect what Ysabel had said about situations like this. Gk'yaun was a bad blood, but Predators killed the bad bloods. She could not permit them to kill her only chance at seeing her people again.

She could not survive having this taken from her.

The only idea that was half-formed was a deadly one, but it might shift the attention to her.

Every instinct clamored that it was a foolish idea. A very stupid idea.

Her head snapped up and Kathy was resolute. The beast at her side snarled at the Predators in turn, as if sensing her overpowering distress. The small by comparison human took a single step forward.

"Release me." She demanded, with her voice quavering slightly. Her eyes were locked with Deuub's. It was a challenge, as plain as day had once been on Earth, yet she knew no other way to make him focus on her alone.

Absolute silence met her demand, as if they could not believe her audacity. She trembled like a leaf in a hurricane. Her hands fisted and then unclenched. Her heart hammered in her ears as anger built quickly to reinforce her brashness. She'd cast her lot in and now it was time to see it through.

She prayed this would work.

"You have taken everything else." She half-whispered as tears threatened to spill down her flushed cheeks. "You have taken my world. My _people_. My _family_. My _friends_. My _children._ You have stolen my life! The very least you owe me is my freedom." Human eyes stared into the inky black irises of the Predator. Unwilling to look away or be swayed from her righteous anger at the situation.

With each word her volume increased until Kathy was all but screeching at him. Her bosom heaved with exertion and unbridled fury. "Do you not understand what it is you have done?" She almost screamed at him rhetorically.

Gk'yaun clicked hurriedly, accentuated by chattering in a few places and Kathy could only surmise that he was translating for her. The change over the other hunters was instantaneous. Deuub, straightened and cocked his head to the side. The growl of warning he'd emitted was cut off as he watched her, weighing her words. Gk'yaun kept repeating a singular word, around several others she did not understand. However that word had Deuub and his pack glancing among one another, until they bowed their heads and obviously stalked backward.

Away from Kathy and her protector.

What in the world? She blinked, thoroughly confused and yet full of relief; though she continued to tremble from the copious emotions that fought within her.

Only her captor stepped forward, despite the resonating roar of warning from the Tusked-one. The beast at her side raised its horned head, prepared to charge at its master's command. Kathy could only gape.

With Deuub so close to her, she inhaled his alien scent, and memories spiked painfully through her. She recalled when he had captured her, the holding cells, the skulls, and the crippling isolation that had nearly driven her insane.

She associated Deuub with pain and loneliness.

Deuub touched her cheek softly, as if he were concerned that too much strength in a single touch might damage her. His mandibles fluttered slightly, and he cocked his head to the side to watch her. She did not flinch or draw back. Kathy did nothing. She acted as the still statue she had learned to become in his presence. It was likely an ingrained response to the threat and memories he presented. Mentally she shuddered as his hot breath ghosted over her face.

She would not look any higher than his chest. The small skulls of various creatures mocked her fragile human existence. She did not hate Deuub. She felt nothing toward him except the burning anger of the innocently wronged and a sad sense of finality at their parting. It was well and truly over with him leaving, wasn't it? Her last vestiges of Earth and the life she knew before. Deuub's absence would mark a new and unheralded chapter in her life.

A life no longer Earth borne nor that of a living trophy; she would be Kathy once more.

"_Farewell,"_ he said with his voice deep and strong. "_Dhi'rauta lou-dte Kale_."

There was a sense of sadness at him leaving. She felt something toward him, likely bred from familiarity and the amount of time in his presence. However, it was there and it made part of her hurt.

Tears, she did not know she possessed gathered in her eyes. She allowed a slight nod forward to acknowledge his words. A bittersweet sense of foreboding gathered in her thoughts. Fear for the unknown was paramount.

The weight of his mandibles moving in her hair, as if he were breathing in her scent one last time surprised her. She held back the gasp building in her throat. Timidly, her eyes rose upward to see the exposed skin of his throat and the edges of his mandibles. She trembled in his light grasp. She wasn't sure what to make of his gesture. What it meant if anything at all. He stepped back and placed a hand firmly on her shoulder.

Then he was gone.

Kathy blinked, and took a steadying breath. Her eyes wandered over to Gk'yaun who growled angrily at the passing Deuub. Gk'yaun's tentacles puffed up in agitation, and she saw the scarred portions of his flesh contract as if he were poised to strike at any moment.

"_Are you harmed?"_ His posture was openly aggressive, but not toward her she understood instinctually.

She shook her head to the negative.

"What did you say to him?" She asked shakily keeping her voice low so as not to let them hear. Though she knew they had excellent hearing, she prayed that her words would not carry to the pack and Deuub.

"_I reminded him of what honor truly means. That you are now 'Honored but Untouchable'."_ His guttural voice was crisp and dismissive. Kathy winced at the volume, suddenly aware that he was speaking loud enough that they would assuredly hear his words.

He was a warrior, unafraid to back up his words with physical blows. Kathy did not have that ability. One blow could easily break bone, and kill her if a Predator wished it. She'd seen the things Deuub had killed, and had spent many an hour imagining what had previously used those very skulls.

If they had been anything akin to the crab-creature and half the beasts she'd been unfortunate enough to meet on this planet, the Predators lived up to the nightmares Kathy had of them.

Haunting her as a species, as her tormentors, and the ones that had stolen her chance at a true life; Kathy knew they had stolen her world.

She'd never forget that.

Too human to do much more than hold onto her shattered dreams and try to move on.

She understood what '_untouchable_' meant, but to string it together with '_honored_' left her unsure of her position. The implication was plain by the words, but did the title mean what she actually thought it did? There was no way to know, and it made her slightly agitated. She did not want to be fooled or lulled into a false sense of security. It would be deadly, as it had nearly been deadly before.

"Where will he go?" The question burned brightly through her thoughts. Would he simply fade into the background? Would he hunt them at a later point in time? Was he a threat or not?

A low growl emanated from him at her innocent question. "_He has much to do, to restore his honor."_

"What?" she asked. She licked her dry lips and attempted to control the veritable maelstrom of emotions that ripped through her.

"_You have changed much. He will change much more."_

His words carried a heavy sense of meaning she could not decipher. But it left her weakened as if a part of her could understand what the rest did not realize.

Her hand shook as it clasped onto Gk'yaun seeking support. She steadied herself, as she noticed he stilled under her touch. She had never truly touched them, even in passing, for longer than a moment. She fought the urge to sweep her thumb across the exposed hot flesh. Quickly, she drew her hand back as soon as she was able to do so without the risk of toppling over.

The world around her shrunk and expanded in an instant, and she turned her gaze away. The flush of her cheeks rivaled the rosy hue of Earth's former sunsets. He did not even make a single sound during the accidental touch or her skittish movements. Kathy tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear.

She could hear her heart skip a beat, and it burned in her chest.

Gk'yaun looked at her, the gaze felt piercing.

"I'm sorry," she whispered awkwardly. "For touching you," she kept her face averted from him, and her eyes focused on the ground. She still did not dare repeat her boldness of looking into his eyes. She didn't dare forget the rules Ysabel had all but pounded into her.

She took a deep breath.

"_You need not apologize_." He replied steadily. His predatory eyes watched the retreating forms of Deuub and his pack. Kathy could sense that he did not trust Deuub wholly. She could sympathize with that far more than he could ever even begin to imagine. She wrapped her arms around her waist, trying to hold herself up against what felt to be the weight of many worlds.

The fate of her people.

"_Much has changed since I last hunted with clansmen."_ He turned and snarled in what his stance conveyed was disgust.

"What about the police?" She asked worriedly, recalling the Predator that seemed so deadly even compared to the other hunters,

"_This word means…"_ He clicked softly to himself. "_He will be made to understand. There are many who must be cast out and more that must be saved."_

She felt more confused by the second at his cryptic words. Or perhaps, they were not cryptic but she still did not fully understand them. There was so much about his species she did not fully understand, though she did try. Her stomach knotted in worry and concern for the future.

Did his words affect her? Should she fear his temper as she had feared Deuub's? No, some part of her denied the thought instantly. Gk'yaun was not Deuub, his mannerisms were dissimilar. She took hesitant steps after him, the hound trailing at her heels. It's snuffling seemed nearly familiar now. Her arms tightened around her waist. Kathy gnawed her lower lip in contemplation.

He'd sworn to protect her, and getting her to the Reserve planet. All her hopes and dreams, broken as they were, rested in the honor of what his society called a 'Bad Blood'. Something altogether unwelcomed wormed through her thoughts.

She trusted his vow. She trusted the tusked-one that had saved her twice already and had been prepared to fight Deuub for her freedom.

Kathy was too shaken already to allow the small infatuation that started to beat in her chest to be reflected on.

Her throat went dry and her legs wobbled as she followed Gk'yaun back to his camp. She knew that he was watching her, albeit from in front of her. She knew he could hear her steps as he slowed his own to make sure she could follow. He was waiting for her, but allowing her the dignity to process this life changing event without witness for the most part. Decency and dignity, he'd shown her both.

The first edges of her loneliness melted slightly, and she felt the gratitude stirring within her for the scarred hunter. There was no kindness in his species, no softness and she understood why. They were a people that thrived on hunt and conflict. Her kind, while prone to it, did not evolve as theirs had. Kathy gazed at the surrounding foliage, and the strangeness of it all.

She watched his limping gait with unbridled interest. She did not understand him at all, but she valued what he had done for her. Nearly beyond measure or words; his deeds were nigh on indescribable for their impact on one single human life.

Sometimes she feared she was stuck in a dream. The only dream that had brought her even a modicum of self-respect.

Gk'yaun rumbled lowly in his chest, a clear warning to hurry and Kathy's head snapped up as her pace quickened. The beast emitted a low chuffing sound mixed with a warning growl. She noted the streaks of color across the planet's sky. Night was rapidly approaching and she knew all to well some of the monsters that lurked in the darkness.

Gk'yaun twitched as Kathy passed him, his gaze never leaving some unknown threat in the distance. Yet for all the urgency, she felt a sense of peace.

She felt the first spark of what it meant to be human again.


End file.
